THE MAGAZINE INDUSTRY EXPERTS HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!
AUTHORITTI
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LinkedIn Lead Generation with a Virtual Assistants
Here’s How Making Comparisons Can Help or Hurt You
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Building Resilience
The Content Production Conundrum Solved for Coaches
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Mundane to Magical
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e n i x a M . r D in Ca
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Run Your Business Like A Computer
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Women Who Lead in STEM
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EDITOR'S NOTE This issue is very close to my heart because technology has played a significant role in my career. I had a very successful career in the IT sector and you know what they say “You can take the girl out of tech, but you can’t take the tech out of the girl”. That’s me. I am really passionate about women in STEM. These women have a common thread. They are tenacious, smart, innovative and have big hearts. Finding the ONE for the cover of this issue was no easy feat either. Thanks to my friend Nick F. Nelson, who was generous enough to introduce me to the queen of STEM – Dr. Maxine Cain. I have so much to say about this human and don’t really know where to start. From the first time we met, I instantly knew that I would be friends with her for the rest of my life. I absolutely adore her and respect her on every level.
EDITOR
By Mary Henderson | Photos by Mauro Palmieri
Her credentials speak for themselves. Her testimonials from multiple Bluechip companies across the globe are to be admired, her love for her family and devotion to her spirituality is deep and her leadership is second to none.
topics that are of interest to every human – innovation, social media, digital currency and the future of STEM. She has an answer for everything and I promise you, this issue will noy disappoint.
This is a woman who will not take NO for an answer. She gets what she wants when it comes to supporting her community and providing women of colour a career in STEM as the future game changers.
It is an honour to introduce Dr. Maxine Cain to the Authoritti5.0 audience. Thank you for changing the world, one woman at a time.
Dr. Maxine Cain is well connected at the highest levels of government and corporate America and is the Founder & President of STEM Atlanta Women, Inc. A non-profit organization created to Enlighten, Educate, and Empower women and girls about the advantages and global opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math and the future skills needed to compete and succeed in the 21st Century.
Thank you to the content contributors who have created stellar articles this month. You are so appreciated. Please provide us feedback on topics you would like us to cover in the magazine. We would love to hear from you. Mary x
In our interview, we discussed many AUTHORITTI5.0 MAGAZINE
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CONTENTS 2 EDITOR'S NOTE 4 COVER STORY 20 GROWING, SCALING AND IMPROVING YOUR BUSINESS: JOHN KNOTTS Run Your Business Like A Computer 27 VIDEO MARKETING: DENNIS YU The Content Production Conundrum Solved for Coaches 34 CAREER DEVELOPMENT: GINA RILEY Understanding and Positioning to Land in the Right COO Role Part 1/5: What Type of COO Are You? 39 VIRTUAL ASSISTANT: LINH PODETTI LinkedIn Lead Generation with a Virtual Assistants 44 PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: LOUISE TAYLOR The power of Spiritual and Commercial Intelligence – even if you hated maths at school 50 MINDFULLNESS: FALGUNI KATIRA 6 Steps to Help You Avoid Decision Fatigue
55 MANIFESTATION: MARIA DAVIS Mundane to Magical 59 ENTREPRENEURSHIP: MICHAEL THIEMANN Building Resilience 64 WOMEN IN STEM: PAMELA KELLERT Why Aspiring Women in STEM Need a Coach to grow to a Senior Leadership Role 70 NEUROSCIENCE: OMOZUA ISIRAMEN Here’s How Making Comparisons Can Help or Hurt You 79 TOOLBOX: JAN SANTOS Title 83 BUSINESS TOOLS 84 PODCAST OF THE WEEK 85 SUBSCRIBE TO AUTHORITTI5.0 MAGAZINE 86 TUNE IN TO THE AUTHORITTI5.0 PODCAST 87 PROMO
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Front Cover Photo Credit: Nick F. Nelson | www.brandprenuer.com
By Mary Henderson
Dr.Maxine Cain
Women in STEM
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Mary: Welcome to Authoritti5.0. I have a wonderful guest for you, Dr. Maxine Cain, who is one of the most remarkable people I think I’ve ever met. She’s an extraordinary person in her own right, and I can’t tell you how excited I am to interview her. Maxine is an awardwinning people leader changing the way women, business leaders, and entrepreneurs live, work, and play.
She’s a senior human resource specialist and a leader, and also an entrepreneurial personality known for innovative approaches to business
Photo Credit: Nick F. Nelson www.brandprenuer.com
strategy, diversity, and inclusion, and
magazine an overview of what STEM really means to you and why it’s
emerging technologies. Dr. Cain is the
important to the world we live in today and moving forward.
founder and president of STEM, Atlanta Women, Inc., a nonprofit organization
Dr. Cain:
created to enlighten, educate, and
What does STEM mean to me? Obviously, it stands for science,
empower women and girls about the
technology, engineering, and math, but it represents everything that
advantages and global opportunities in
we touch every moment of our day. From the moment we wake up in
science, technology, engineering, and
the morning until we go to bed at night, we touch an area of science,
math, and the future skills needed to
technology, engineering, and math. So that’s why it’s so important to
compete and succeed in the 21st
me that we help bring awareness to what’s happening relative to the
century. Her vision is to disrupt unkind,
future state of science and technology, but also in the fourth industrial
unconscious bias in tech, and bridge the
revolution where we’re now shifting to the emerging or the advanced
gap in STEM. She’s my sort of lady.
technologies that are shaping our world today. So to me, STEM is a
Welcome to the show, Dr. Maxine!
foundation. And there’s a whole new world coming, and many people
Dr. Cain:
can’t even wrap their head around what’s about to happen.
Thank you so much for having me. I am
Mary:
so honored to be here, Mary. It is such a
This leads me beautifully into my next question because we live in such
pleasure. Thank you again.
a transient society based on instant gratification. We all agree on that.
Mary:
Technology is a big part of our everyday life. And in some ways we are becoming one with our devices, but that’s just one side of the coin.
Well, I am super excited, Maxine,
When we look at human behavior and its relationship to technology,
because I can talk to you about so many
the other side is automation and globalization, which are changing the
different angles of STEM. You know, I
way we think about and define our careers. Employment is becoming
come from the tech space and as they
more fluid. People are going from having one profession to several in
say, you can take the girl out of tech, but
their entire working life. And so as the world of work changes, we
you can’t take the tech out of the girl,
need to change our skills to match that. There’s a broad gap between
right? Where I’d like start, Maxine, is to
what we are learning and what is actually required in the real world.
give the listeners and the readers of the
So how do we educate academic institutions and
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corporations to prioritize 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, and cultural awareness, and integrate STEM development in their environment to keep up with the change and the demand?
Dr. Cain: Oh my goodness, you are speaking my language. That is one of the areas that we are focused on as we speak here in Atlanta. I am one of the board members of the Technology Association of Georgia Diversity and Inclusion Society. And one of the things that we’re focused on is social equity and social justice as they relate to skill development, reskilling, upskilling, and new skilling talent. There is a significant battle going on with corporations looking for the talent from recent college graduates. A lot of our schools, especially the HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) communities, are liberal arts schools. And they are very proud of that, which is good, but there is a significant gap between what these college graduates’ skills are now and what they need to be for these corporations to move forward.
And so they’re looking at 5, 10, 15 years down the road, and the talent that’s coming out there is not there in the colleges. So one of the things we have done is partnered with Clark Atlanta University here in Atlanta, and we have placed a workforce development center at Clark Atlanta. That Center is designed to provide emerging technology training and certifications to graduates. And for those individuals without four-year degrees, we have corporations that have talent within their organization that needs to be re-skilled so that they can advance to the next level. We are providing cybersecurity training, data, science, business intelligence, data analytics, all of these certifications that are in demand right now.
When they get out, take this training, and get their certifications, not only are we providing them with the certifications, but we’re also connecting them with the jobs. These corporations are committed to making sure that they bring them in the door and hire them.
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Right now we have about a 98%
together for these emerging
And so we started to have the
success rate of individuals,
technologies to actually play out in
conversations with Clark Atlanta
especially African American women
organizations and also to become
with Dr. George French, who is
who have gone through our most
leading innovators. What’s your view
amazing. He is a visionary leader. He
recent cybersecurity program. And
on that?
has amazing ideas and thoughts
all of them are getting what we call
around how he wants to move the
family-sustaining jobs, where they
Dr. Cain:
organization forward. And he
are making anywhere from $50,000
There really are a lot of silos. And so
embraced us from the Consortium
to $85,000 a year. So that’s how we
especially with the colleges and
Institute at Emory saying “Hey, I need
start to bridge that gap. We start by
universities and the corporations,
this at my university.” Therefore, we
giving individuals the opportunity to
and to say that in a respectful way,
were able to put a Center for
get certifications, because right
it’s almost like trying to turn a huge
Workforce Development at Clark
now, many organizations are not
barge around. Yes, we want people
Atlanta University, so that we can
even requiring a college degree.
to get college degrees, but we also
start training individuals, not just at
They want you to have the on-
want to make sure that as colleges
the campus, but in the community.
demand, emerging technology skills.
are shaping their curriculum, they
Lots of individuals have lost their
are incorporating what these
jobs due to COVID. In some cases,
Mary:
corporations need relative to this
these jobs are just gone away.
Maxine, when I read all of your
skill. So that when a student
They’re no longer valid anymore;
testimonials and recommendations
graduates from a university, they can
they’re irrelevant.
from major global brands, the
go right into the workforce with the
central theme was community. Is
skills that are in demand right now. If
So people are having to pivot and
community an important ingredient,
a college is still using a curriculum
shift into new and different career
and does it require a collaborative
that’s 10, 15, 20 years old and not
tracks, and they need the skills that
effort to make the STEM industry as
meeting demands of these
they can’t go back to school to get.
a whole the success that you have
corporations relative to new and
These are some of the most
made it today? Clearly, there are
emergent technology training and
specialized skills. But we are able to
two sides to the coin that must come
certifications, that gap still remains.
do that at Clark Atlanta through the
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STEM is a foundation.
And there’s a whole new world coming, and many people can’t even wrap their head around what’s about to happen. Workforce Development Center. We
corporation and the corporation
dominating still. But that’s not the
are hoping that more and more
says they’re still missing a little bit.
case for Black men. You have more
colleges and universities will take a
We’re allowing them to come back
Black women who are really
hard look at their curriculum, which
to class for retraining at no cost, so
excelling, but that’s still relative
is a hard ask right now. But I think
that they can go back into the
because the number is still low in the
that as they see that their students
corporation and be ready to go and
grand scheme.
graduating and not getting the jobs
feel like they’re having some level of
that they need, because they’re not
success and support from the
Mary:
properly equipped, hopefully more
corporation.
I love it. What other threats and
will consider doing that. I know that
opportunities do you see in the STEM
there’s a lot of talk right now in
Mary:
Atlanta, relative to the community
So what is the uptake of women in
leads. And going back to that
those programs? And what attracts
Dr. Cain:
community comment, it is all
women to step into this industry?
The digital divide, right? So you have
relational.
space within the next 10 years?
African Americans. Whether they’re
Dr. Cain:
middle schoolers, high schoolers,
It’s about having great relationships
It depends on who you ask, Mary.
college students, or just regular
and understanding both sides of the
Right now we’re seeing a shift
families in African American
fence and bridging that. It’s helping
relative to African American women.
communities who are not aware of
them to understand and showing
For example, in the HBCU
the changing dynamics, it comes
them that we can help get their
communities, you have more African
down to science, technology,
students in the door of these major
American women than you do men.
engineering, innovation, math, what
corporations, if they’re doing X, Y,
And so we want to see more men
have you. That’s why there’s a lot of
and Z. And then to the corporations,
come into these urgent tech
focus on learning loss in
we’re saying, “Tell us what you need
trainings. Right now there’s a major
underrepresented and underserved
today, so that when this person
initiative going on to try to attract,
communities; because of the
graduates college, they are
train, and develop African American
pandemic, so much has been lost.
equipped.” And we incorporate that
men, so that they can have these on-
They don’t necessarily have the tools
information into the curriculum.
demand skills as well. You know,
and rich resources, the internet, the
We’re even going a step further to
when you think about white males,
computer access, all that. So there’s
say, “Let’s say they’re hired by the
you see that they’re really
been a huge gap in learning
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loss. We’re trying to bring awareness and understanding to what the future state of technology is. And not giving them the insight is going to widen that gap, especially when it comes to artificial intelligence, and data science, but more so specifically artificial intelligence, because quantum computing is coming fast and furiously.
I have a year-round program centered around quantum computing that people can’t even wrap their head around. They’re still focused on the classical computers versus the quantum computer that is coming. And so, when we start to introduce it, people are like, “What?” Even down to drone technology, the future state of drones, and how drones will really start to shape police departments, construction, gardening, and everything that we take for granted today. So the biggest gap is that if we don’t educate those who are in underrepresented and underserved communities, the AI and the people who are working with the AI mechanisms will create a world where we don’t have any jobs because of the AI programming. And these are the low-level retail customer or service jobs that the African Americans or those in underserved communities are typically doing.
Those jobs won’t be there anymore, and these people don’t have the skills to shift into new and different jobs. We really have to help everyone, for that matter, but especially those who are most impacted, the minorities and women, too. If we don’t get them involved and start thinking about the future state of technology, as it relates to AI and how AI is changing the way we do business every day, that is going to create more of a pay inequity.
Mary: So, Maxine, let’s look at the entrepreneurial side. Let’s flip the coin. Let’s look at entrepreneurs because there’s been such a huge rise in startup coaches, startup consultants, and services in the last two years, even in the last 12 months. So many entrepreneurs are not incorporating technology in their businesses. You know, it’s one of the area that I’ve probably invested more in than anything else. And I’m glad that I’ve done that. I can see the benefits of working with data; for me, that’s very important. So what’s your view on where entrepreneurship is heading and what should we as entrepreneurs be taking notice of?
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Dr. Cain:
But that’s not them; that’s not their
Well, what I see right now is what
area. And it doesn’t come across
we’re calling the Great
as authentic and I tell them, “You
Resignation, individuals who are
don’t have the credibility; you
leaving the workplace, especially
don’t have the recipe.” I just find
the millennials, who just do not
that people are grasping at
want to be a part of this
straws as a way to just make
corporate America, eight to five,
money. And they’re not really
nine to six, working-for-pennies
being intentional. And the last
situation anymore. And they feel
thing I always say is, “Well, how
like the corporations are not
will your work impact the world
adapting, but they are looking at
around you? You know you’re
it. I don’t want you to think that
doing this for a reason. It cannot
the corporations are not, because
just be about money because if
they know that they have to shift
it’s just about money, it’s not going
in order to get our economy back
to last and you’re not going to put
on track and get people back to
the time and effort into it. The
work. But the new normal is
money will come, but you have to
working from home and remotely.
put the work in; you have to have
Right? So many corporations are
a lot of faith and courage to be
closing their doors because they
able to take the risk and do the
can have their people work from
work when you don’t see the
home, but a lot of entrepreneurs
money right now.”
are leaving, and they’re chasing money versus purpose.
But the impact is the greatest thing. And so my challenge is
And when I’m teaching women in
getting to that piece first, with all
my entrepreneurship classes, I
the AI, the marketing, and all that
always say, “You have to get very
other stuff coming last. A lot of
clear on who you are, on what
people want to jump right into the
your purpose is. Like, what are
marketing and the coaching, but
you? What do you want to be
they’re wearing the coaches out
known for? What are you most
because they’re not clear. They do
passionate about? What skills do
not have a laser focus on who
you have that you’ve already been
they are and what it is that they
trained in and you’re solidly baked
need to do and how they are
in? You’ve got it down, so let’s
going to impact the world around
focus on that. And then let’s look
them.
at how to operationalize and monetize that, and how to get
Mary:
your marketing together.” And
Well, you are speaking my
what you’ll find is that they are too
language because I always say
often looking on someone else’s
even to my tribe that there’s a
paper, modeling other people’s
difference between currency and
work because they think that
money. If you are chasing money,
seems like the coolest thing.
you will hit a dead end.
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But if you can look at your knowledge, wisdom, and
the emerging tech. It takes a certain type of skill, a
skills as a currency, place a value over the top of that,
certain type of person, a certain type of thinking that is
then you can start to see you’re already a
focused on this stuff that we call way out in left field
multimillionaire. And now you have to understand how
and compliance. There’s a lot of compliance that
do you create another type of currency, which is called
needs to go into this information that’s being entered
money, right? Because if you’ve done it already in your
into these AI-generated machines and all the stuff
value system and in your knowledge, wisdom, and
that’s making it happen. And that’s one of the reasons
skillset, then you can also do it in the amount in your
we’re saying we need to get more people focused on
bank account. And it’s a real shift in mindset.
what’s happening in the world around us.
I want to talk a little bit about the morality when it
So many of us cannot even put our arms or our mind
comes to the moral consciousness around the new
around what’s happening, even with Facebook and
emerging technologies. The other day I was reading an
Meta, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, right?
article by Peter Diamandis. He is interested in futuristic
So much that’s going on behind the scenes is artificial
technologies. Some of them are awesome and some
intelligence-based. Then you have the stem cell and
of them are, oh my God, things like genetically
creating humans; well, who wants to do that? Who are
modifying a human embryo in a laboratory to create
you talking with and how are you collaborating, and
humans. We are looking at words like transhuman. I’m a
who are you? We need to be having these discussions
woman of faith, so that sort of freaks me out a little
with even just a subset of a small group of individuals
bit. Should we be worried about this? Should we be
that doesn’t necessarily reflect the entire universe.
excited about this? Is there an industry body that at
They’re the only ones who have the insight and
some point will be formed to regulate these types of
expertise to do it. Who’s stopping them from a
technologies that are going out into Frankenstein’s
compliance standpoint, from a moral conscious
world? What’s your take on that?
standpoint? That’s why diversity, equity, and inclusion are critical in everything that we do.
Dr. Cain: Well, I believe we absolutely need to be worried about
Mary:
it because the data that’s being entered is only as
You know, I love that because that really makes me
good as the person who enters it. That’s why we need
feel a lot more comfortable. And in some ways I can’t
more diversity, more equity, more inclusion in every part
help but think that’s why we need more women in
of science and innovation and even the future state of
STEM. I do truly believe that women have a different
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level of consciousness when it comes to these types of discussions. This is why, Dr. Maxine, you are the perfect person for what you do, because you really are a woman of integrity. You’re super smart, and also you do have that morality that underlies everything you do. And this is what we need.
There has been such a resistance for women to enter this industry. Even back in 2003, when I gave a keynote in a university to thousands of predominantly female students about the tech space and considering computer science as a career path, the speaker before me was talking about the tech industry and how much money they could make to buy their Louis Vuitton bags. You would not believe the faces of the academics in the front row. They were mortified to hear this speaker selling such an intelligent industry as a way to make money to buy Louis Vuitton bags.
And I remember getting on that stage and crushing that because I was and am so passionately against that. I’m a smart woman. Don’t put me in that category. So I got up on that stage and I said that is absolutely not the truth. You know women are required in this industry because we think differently, we have a different consciousness, and we solve problems differently. We are emotional, which is awesome, because when you’re emotional, you come from the heart and that’s what we need in this industry.
Do you think that with the technology industry or the people who are in this space, selling technology to the beautiful up-and-coming young women in the wrong way is why we are where we are? I know that women have got so much to bring to this industry, and I put myself into one of those categories. I was a visionary back in 2005 when I actually started my entrepreneurial journey and still am. I want to be a role model for young women, so that they can say, I love how she thinks. And at the back of what she does is a full tech stack. Do you think it’s been sold in the wrong way?
Dr. Cain: Yes, I think that people don’t understand that you have to meet people where they are, especially children, and believe it or not, the kids are super curious. They want to learn, they want to grow, and they want to understand. And so to teach them about how they can
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make money to buy things? That’s
They teach our food science and
going back to what I said before.
flavor science course, something
They’re going to be entrepreneurs
these kids have never even heard
for the wrong reason. It’s not only
of, but now they see it’s a
about searching and trying to get
possibility. They didn’t realize that
the dollars; it’s really around
there’s so much science and tech
understanding how this whole
in making a Coca-Cola product or
STEM industry impacts our life. It
in aviation, for instance. So we
concerns everything that’s
really help them to understand
happening, from all the tools and
and connect to it. If we’re not
resources that she has in her
showing them how it all touches
kitchen, in the bathroom, in her
their life, they’re not really not
laundry room, in her children’s
going to understand. Of course,
bedroom, from their clothes,
we have to be creative because
shoes, toothpaste, products, hair,
we have to meet them where they
every piece of everything that we
are. So we have a music-in-tech
touch is centered around that
program. We have a beauty tech,
science.
we have culinary science, and medicine, veterinary science. We
And so why not have kids
have so many things that we can
understand how things are made?
teach in a way that is
They can also have a say, and they
interconnected.
can shape and decide what products, tools, and resources
It’s intentional, it’s hands-on, and
they will use tomorrow by having
it’s project-based, so they can
the ingenuity to create them.
see, feel, and touch it versus, oh,
Likely they don’t realize that when
well, you know what, this you can
they wake up in the morning and
get in cybersecurity and you can
their alarm clock goes off, that it
make a lot of money. Yes. But do
has to do with engineering,
they understand what
manufacturing, and mathematics;
cybersecurity is? And do they
they're not connecting the dots.
know why it’s important? So to
And so one of the things that I do
their point: If we don't break these
help them understand is ask them
things down, we’ll kill the curiosity,
this? “What’s the first thing you do
right? And we’ll kill the ingenuity
when you wake up in the morning?
and the innovation of the future of
Then what do you do? And what
who’s going to shape and create
do you do next? And what do you
what we’re going to be looking at
do next?” And I tie their answers
tomorrow. That’s why, when I’m
into one of those areas.
talking to young kids, young women, and girls, we start with
And they have these lightbulb
the foundation of who they are,
moments. Wow. And we also
what do they like to do? What are
introduce them to things that
they most passionate about? And
they’ve never heard of, like food
then we connect the dots.
science at Coca-Cola.
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You know, when you think about white males, you see that they’re really dominating still. But that’s not the case for Black men. You have more Black women who are really excelling, but that’s still relative because the number is still low in the grand scheme. AUTHORITTI5.0 MAGAZINE
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there is a bad package of spinach, the store can look at the blockchain and track the spinach from the farmer to the truck, to the manufacturer, to the store. Wow.
Mary: Wow. I love that. That excites me because that’s the space that I’m immersed in, and I just can’t get enough of it. What’s your vision, Dr. Maxine, for STEM? What does it look like for you on a personal
Mary:
being done, understand that
level? Everyone aside, what do
Can we just talk very briefly about
Bitcoin is just a currency. Think
you see 10 years from now?
NFTs and Crypto? I think a lot of
about when you travel and you
people still feel that the area
have to exchange your currency in
Dr. Cain:
around crypto blockchain NFTs is
another country, so that you can
Oh my God. My vision is very, very
confusing. Is this the future? Is it a
digitally transfer information. It’s
clear. I really want to impact and
fad? Is it for real? Can you just
just more advanced, and it’s going
disrupt what’s happening with
talk to us about this particular
to be quicker and faster. And
women and girls, more specifically
space as far as technology is
depending on which product
Black and brown girls and
concerned?
you’re using and how valuable it is,
underserved and
like silver and gold, it’s still all
underrepresented communities.
Dr. Cain:
currency. People are becoming
The reason I focus on girls is
Oh, it is definitely real. It is
aware of NFTs (nonfungible
because of this saying by Gandhi.
currency, like you mentioned
tokens) and blockchain and
“If you educate an individual, you
before, but we’re dealing with it
Bitcoin and all that, which are very
educate one person, but if you
today. When you think about
real things.
educate a woman, you educate
FinTech, you think about how we
the entire family and then a
exchange money, how we transfer
So you think about our regular
nation, because she really has the
money, and think about if we need
paper money and digital currency
say and is the lifeblood of that
to send something in PayPal,
as we’re doing it now, but it’s just
family.”
right? It’s a transaction, and it’s a
going to get a little bit more
currency. Sending something in
advanced. Paper currency will go
So I just think about women who
Zelle or Cash App or whatever is
away and everything will be
are child-bearers, who are the
happening now means we’re
digital. Now, blockchain is really
nurturers and the family
exchanging currency digitally,
interesting. I’m fascinated by
caretakers and the visionaries,
which many people don’t realize
blockchain because so many
even though they have husbands.
because it’s so new. And right
grocery stores and manufacturers,
And I don’t want you to think that
now, there’s blockchain, which I’m
and everybody is using blockchain
I’m bashing men, because I really
going to set aside for a second.
now; it’s a chain of command to
want men to fully embrace it as
track information, right? So, for
well. We do have so many men
But when you think about Bitcoin
example: When we have a food
who think that all the programs
and the value of it and how it’s
recall, if you go to a store and
that are going on right now are
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centered around women. And we
me as a person. I know that I have
need more programs centered to
a lot of similarities to him. He was
help African males to really get in
a minister. He was a global
the game.
leader. He was a leader in the
COVER
community. We share the love of
Mary:
beautiful cars and stuff like that.
So, final question for you. If you
So I would really want to spend
could meet one person who is no
time with my real father and then
longer living, who would it be and
the other would be Jesus. I mean, I
what would you want to know? Or
really just want to know and
what would you ask that person?
understand the plans that he has for me. The Bible says that the
Dr. Cain:
plans that he has for us are more
Well, I know that he still lives
than the sands on the beach, and
today. So one would be Jesus and
that’s a lot of thoughts. And so
he is still living. He’s just not here
just to be able to sit at his feet
with us. And the other would be
and to allow him to give me
my real father who I’ve never met
insight into my future would be
before. My real father died. I
amazing.
didn’t realize that I had a different father until I was 17 years old. And
Mary:
my mother told me, and by that
Wouldn’t that be amazing if we
time, my real father had passed
had a party, and we all just sat
away. I would love to be able to
around the table and were like,
just sit at his feet and understand
“Okay, Mary, it’s your turn. Okay,
a whole lot more about who he
Maxine, it’s your turn.” Here it is.
was and to get more insight about
What I see here is what’s going on
We really have to help everyone, for that matter, but especially those who are most impacted, the minorities and women, too. If we don’t get them involved and start thinking about the future state of technology, as it relates to AI and how AI is changing the way we do business every day, that is going to create more of a pay inequity.
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WRITER'S PROFILE
with you. That would be you knowing Jesus. He would say, “You know
Mary is an internationally recognised Personal Branding and Online Specialist who helps industry experts turn their knowledge, wisdom and skills into a 6 figure+ online business and become a recognised brand in their niche or industry. Mary is also the founder of Lights.Cameras.Action an end to end coaching program designed to get industry experts to commercialisation in 24 weeks. She is also the founder and Editor in Chief of Authoritti5.0 Magazine.
what, there’s an end story. The story at the end is awesome. So now go and enjoy the journey and then we’ll meet at the end of the story. And you can tell me if you loved your story, which, you know, I think we should.”
Dr. Cain: Absolutely. And he would probably just say, “Trust me.” Yes. And so, I have to say that in this entrepreneurial journey and being able to listen, I listen to him. I get those downloads. I tell people all the time, you have to make your request known, but you also have to sit and listen so that he can answer back. And that one of the main things that’s really helped me to be successful is that I pray and I meditate. Prayer is submitting your request. Meditation is sitting and listening and getting the answers and the dialogue, so that you can walk in your divine purpose. And I feel that because I’ve been so focused on hearing and listening, I’ve been able to be successful in this space, because it’s really not me. I’m just the vessel.
Mary: That was a master class right there. I think that you can feel how much I absolutely love you. You know, I could sit and talk to you for a whole year, and I wouldn’t even be bored because I would always have questions for you. You know my curiosity runs so wild. Honestly, if you said, “Mary, I’ll give you half a day,” I can assure you I would not run out of questions. I want to thank you so much for giving me your time. I know you are very busy and you are so hard to get hold of. Honestly, thank you to our beautiful mutual friend, Nick F. Nelson, who actually made this happen.
Dr. Cain: Thank you so much, Mary. I can’t wait to sit and talk to you because I too
CONTACT MARY: maryhendersoncoaching.com @MaryHendersonCoaching
have so many questions for you and want to understand what you do and how we can support each other.
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Daily Motivation
"You have the courage to begin again."
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GROWING, SCALING AND IMPROVING YOUR BUSINESS
BY JOHN KNOTTS
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GROWING, SCALING AND IMPROVING YOUR BUSINESS
What is a business operating system and why does it matter? To put it bluntly, a business operating system is how you run your company. It provides ways of setting, reviewing, and meeting operational goals and making decisions.
business operating system. Like a computer or device, your operating system is always in need of routine upgrades. As I write this article this month, my cellphone’s operating system is installing an update.
Take a look at the tool you are using right now to read this article. Perhaps it is on your desktop computer, a laptop, or some mobile device, like a cellphone or tablet. Without software, what you are looking at is simply a fancy hunk of junk. However, without an operating system, the software installed would also be useless.
One of the many challenges that businesses face as they grow is that they never bothered to install an operating system to begin with! They start adding functions and departments to solve problems and complete required tasks, but never established a formal way for all these functions and departments to work together.
An operating system, in a computerized device, is the basic software required to manage and operate the computing device. Without an operating system, you could not even install other software programs on the device!
The biggest problem that occurs when this happens is that business silos form. Well, we see problems that are associated with business silos – the silo itself is not the problem. In fact, as a business grows, it actually needs silos to exist to operate.
When it comes to your business, I want you to think of every function (i.e., finance, human resources, marketing, sales, operations, etc.) as computer software. The only difference between your business and a computer is that the functions – software programs – will operate without an operating system. The problem is that they will not run well! This year, in my monthly Growing, Scaling, and Improving Your Business column, I am focusing on the six key areas when it comes to scaling your business to continually meet its growth. In January, we started the year off appropriately with ensuring that you have your strategy set. After ensuring a solid strategy, we examined and improved our operating model and organizational structure that allows the operating model to work. As I highlighted last month, once you have these three things set, you need to examine your
To fully understand what is happening in a business when it comes to silos and what you can do about it, pick up my book at Amazon. The title is, Overcoming Organizational Myopia: Breaking Through Siloed Organizations. As you start to build out your business, the best way to avoid organizational myopia is to install a business operating system and keep it up to date. If this is the first time you have heard of a business operating system, then this can be a very daunting challenge. If you can imagine how complicated your computer’s operating system is, you can also imagine the complexities involved with a business operating system. The best way to describe a business operating system is as your Business Playbook. It contains all your business’s processes, policies, and procedures, and keeps them all in one place. This ensures that your business will run smoothly every day.
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When a business does not have a formal business operating system, it relies heavily on one person’s effort to keep everything working together and moving forward. This person is typically the owner, president, or chief executive officer (CEO). This one person will constantly be fighting with others in the business to ensure things are done the way they expect. This is the primary reason that owners, presidents, and CEOs find themselves “working in the business” so much. So, installing and continuously updating a business operating system will help a business leader move from “working in the business” to “working on the business.” In fact, the strategy, operating model, organizational structure, and business operating system are all “on the business” tools! There are six signs, according to trainual.com, that inform you when you need a business operating system or that the one you have is in need of updating. 1. Every day feels chaotic, and you operate more like a firefighter than a business leader. 2. Your business is experiencing high turnover. 3. There is a lack of follow through on projects due to a lack of formal accountability. 4. Your sales and revenue are going up, but your profit is not matching this rise. 5. You are constantly struggling with ineffective communication. This can become a huge organizational myopia issue. Okay, I have convinced you that you most definitely need a business operating system. You are probably wondering why you did not know about this sooner. That is because a business operating system is complicated! The problem is, if you do a Google search, most of the search results will come back with computer
GROWING, SCALING AND IMPROVING YOUR BUSINESS
operating system details, because there just is not a lot on this subject. Never fear, this article will help you get there. First off, there are existing systems that you can use to help build your business operating system and run your business. I believe that they can help but are not the end-all solutions that they hope to be. This is because every business is unique and needs its own unique business operating system. The following references make a great starting point. My recommendation is to hire an expert in business coaching and consulting to help you wade into the systems and evolve to your own “way.” Let us start with the Rockefeller Habits. Verne Harnish wrote the book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, in 2002. He founded the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Growth Institute, and Scaling Up. This book formed the 10 areas where the Rockefeller Habits outline a business operating system. Harnish originally pulled these from, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Harnish took his years of working with business entrepreneurs and his learnings from Rockefeller, to create the 10 Rockefeller Habits. The 4 Disciplines of Execution is another great foundational read, when it comes to understanding business operating systems. 4DX, as it is commonly called, is where the term “Wildly Important Goals (WIG)” comes from. 4DX, like Rockefeller Habits, outlines a set of practices and a way of business thinking that sustains business execution long-term. The third business operating system resource that is a must-read is, Traction, by Gino Wickman. Traction outlines the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS).
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GROWING, SCALING AND IMPROVING YOUR BUSINESS
A great deal of EOS is built off the work of Patrick Lencioni. Specifically, Wickman pulled much of the material from Lencioni’s most popular book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. Although, EOS is largely a combination of several smart business practices, all rolled into one program. Again, EOS, like Rockefeller Habits and 4DX, provides a set of concepts and tools that form a business operating system. All of these approaches make for an excellent starting framework. However, each of them falls short in different ways. This is why I recommend you establish your own operating system for your business. Not surprisingly, each of these three systems comes with potential coaching and consulting support from system purists. These are people that swear by the almost religious adaptation of the methodology. This fanatical behavior is one of the reasons that I push business leaders to consider their own approach. The most famous example of a business operating system in the Fortune 500 world would probably be The Toyota Way, written by Jeffrey Liker. More specifically, it outlines the Toyota Production System (TPS). TPS was developed by Taiichi Ohno and Eiji Toyoda between 1948 and 1975. Many other well-known corporations have formally developed their own business operating systems, such as Ingersoll-Rand, Honeywell, Bosch, Boeing, and even Lego. All these business operating systems focus on the same key components of business operations and improvement. Typically, you will find these seven concepts in a business operating system.
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CONTRIBUTING WRITER'S PROFILE
1. Strategy and goal setting. 2. Decision making. 3. Roles and responsibilities, with emphasis on accountability. 4. Process management and process improvement approaches. 5. Business problem-solving and problem-resolution approaches. 6. Meeting direction and planning and operating cadences. 7. Technology systems. These seven areas are highlighted in my book, Overcoming Organizational Myopia. Although my book does not focus on building a business operating system, it does show why silos exist, why they are not bad, why we need silos, and what should be done about the myopia that can exist in these silos as they form. As you embark on the journey of starting and growing your business, you will be faced with constant complexities. This is why constantly scaling to meet your business growth is so vitally important. Building and updating your business operating system is the fourth recurring step in your efforts to scale your business.
As a personal and professional business coach and consultant, John Knotts has been growing, scaling, and improving businesses for over 25 years. John portrays himself as a Success Incubator with his company Crosscutter Enterprises. His deep thought leadership on #business and #success can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and his website, www.crossctr.com.
CONTACT JOHN: @successincubator
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The idea is not to live forever, but to create something that will. ANDY WARHOL
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VIDEO MARKETING
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In earlier editions of Authoritii, we talked about how to chop up long form video into social snippets and articles, which is called “repurposing”. So whether you have a book, podcast, webinar, speeches, or TikTok live– you can convert that into many forms of content easily with various tools and an assistant. But overwhelm takes over– since you don’t have enough time to coach clients, mess with your website, be on podcasts, hire virtual assistants, take care of the kids, and get 8 hours of sleep (don’t we wish?) Even if it’s just you as a “one man band” or if you have a team– you’re the bottleneck as a figurehead who is also wearing 10 other hats. Your “Content Factory” is the antidote to this problem– scaling you up with various combinations of people, processes, and platforms that are uniquely suited to you. In this article, we will cover the process that we have been using to create thousands of pieces of content, the tools behind the scenes, on how all these pieces fit.
A cohesive strategy is the backbone of a marketing strategy We all know about the one minute video and dollar a day boosting to drive heavy exposure and attention. But how do you put those together into a cohesive strategy? You organize your content into the why-howwhat 3x3 grid. We have our why at the top, the how at the middle and the what at the bottom of the funnel. There's long form videos, such as podcasts and webinars, but there's also a lot of short form content in these little snippets that are
VIDEO MARKETING
stories, Instagram, reels, moments, hero shots, other kinds of support, form content. So how do we bridge the different kinds of content along different networks?
From podcast to a book Descript.Com, Jarvis.Ai and Overdub Let’s say there’s a subject we are knowledgeable about and want to create content around it. So, we create an outline with 10 topics related to your product or service. Your goal is to write a book or do a podcast around that subject. We then create 10 topics that are five minutes each and we have a one hour video. So, how do we use this video to create content? We start with Descript.com– my secret weapon to get what used to take days done in minutes. We then chop the video up into lots of little one minute videos to transcribe it. Following that we take the ums and ohs out of the same. We now have the different chapters of the book. And Voila! all of a sudden, we've got the whole text of a book. We can also use an interesting feature within Descript.com called “Overdub”. This feature allows us to actually take the video and the audio and turn it into words that we didn't even say - thereby adding more content. We 've now taken this one hour video and turned it into a book. This could be taken even to a next level using Jarvis.Ai - which extends and amplifies the content and even removes any mistakes. Jarvis helps with headlines, intro, outro, copy, sales, and much more. This then allows us to create more and more of these little snippets which can then be repurposed into blog posts via
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WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even TikTok. Designrr takes a step further wherein videos can be converted into a book with a click of a button.
Coaches need brand recognition and authority We have taken our long form piece of content that literally took you just an hour to record and converted it into a book, a course or any of our favorite podcasting tools. So, while still having the long form content, we have created tons of little social snippets and blog posts. Of everything a book offers an expert is the perception of authority. In crowded spaces, brand recognition and authority are everything. Often, we see businesses follow a specific digital marketer, who is their go-to person for all things Internet marketing. Having brand recognition and authority is of utmost importance. Businesses generally do not trust the big brands quite as much as they trust word of mouth and what their friends have to say. Having one of these high authority assets– whether it's a course, book or a podcast– is now required for anyone who wants to be seen as having expertise.
Need workers on a budget? Hire virtual assistants. So, what if we don't have any workers yet in our Content Factory? For example, there is no team– just you? Or we don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on hiring, training, and managing workers? Sites like Fiverr, Fancy Hands, UpWork and OnlineJobs.ph let us hire virtual assistants
VIDEO MARKETING
for as little as $10 for a project or $500 a month full-time. When you have these people that are in your factory, processing your content, you're the architect. You have other people that are in the factory that are basically assembly line workers. You can use our training, which you’ll see more of in Authoritii Magazine.
Play the pay to play games on social networks So, using a Fiverr, Upwork, Fancy Hands or other system is the key in managing these different workers. Now when you have these different components, you've got lots and lots of pieces just from this one-hour recording. You've got lots of these one-minute videos. And lots of these are chopped up into 15, second stories and snippets. This is when you start to apply dollar-a-day. So, you know that on Facebook or on Twitter or on other networks, you've got content that you are putting out there organically, right? And we know that now it's pay to play a game. So, if I know I've got this Facebook post and I put a dollar a day against it, I'm spending $7 because I'm putting a dollar a day against it for seven days. There's probably a 10% chance that I'm going to find a winner! The same model could be replicated across other networks such as Twitter, Snapchat, and such. So, when you've published all this content across all these social networks and you've boosted it, now you're letting the machine do the work for you. Instead of trying to fight the algorithm, we know that the algorithm that drives ads based on objective based spitting and the
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algorithm that drives engagement and the different feeds on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, and whatnot are really the same thing.
Site linking gets you that SEO power Let's say it's a topic that you don't even know a lot about. Invite someone who is an expert on that. And you can turn that podcast episode into an eBook and that eBook chopped up into different pieces. These can then be turned into social snippets, turned into blogs, posts turned into YouTube videos. And you can go even further than that too, because once you've published a book, you can submit that to places like FreeEbooks.Net - which is a domain rank 73. Here you can submit for free to a million people a month that are coming to sites like this. And now you're able to get SEO power because these sites are linking to you. You can get an ISBN number and run through Kindle direct publishing. So now it's on Amazon available for sale and you can be a bestseller and a subcategory like a low competition category. So, you can declare that you have a best seller.
Create more than just content create a content engine You can dominate a niche by bringing experts together and having this be enriched. So, for example, it doesn’t have to be just a one-hour podcast. It could be five, one hour episodes or 30 minute episodes with other experts that you can run through this process and then turn into these different snippets. Now that you have these snippets here and you have these greatest hits, you initially
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tested for a dollar a day, you're then going to put $10 a day against these particular winners. You're going to start tagging other people. The other people could be clients, employees, partners, or organizations. You're going to tag the ones that are proven to be winners and continue to amplify it. And this is what you're going to have as you're ever green machine. Once this is working your greatest hits your very best three of each of these and three different levels of your funnel. And now we have our Content Factory working.
Recognize that your topics are timeless Your Content Factory is continuing to produce leads and people all the way through. So, you're able to get off being stuck in the content calendar. Most are stuck on the content calendar because they have their October content, November content, December content and so on. And they're constantly having to produce more content. But the beauty is you produce something around a topic. This topic is timeless! A topic is something that, you know, people will resonate with your stories. They'll resonate with the expertise. This will always continue. And now, instead of just producing a lot of content, you're producing content strategically. Because now you're thinking what's something that could be awesome on this topic. How do I find the different angles based on why, how, and what? And how do I figure out what channel's going to work?
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CONTRIBUTING WRITER'S PROFILE
It’s a digital first world In the last two years, the whole world has shifted into digital first. So, this Content Factory is something all of us need to build. We need to be thinking about how we should spend 5% of our time creating this? We need to focus on this 5%, which is creating the content. And then the 95% is all the other people that are doing the work. If we want to work on our business, we need to figure out how we need to spend all our time on growing it. And have other people that are in the factory doing the factory work.
CEO of BlitzMetrics, a digital marketing company which partners with schools to train young adults. We offer courses, implementation, and consulting. My personal mission centers around mentorship from my experience with helping people from all walks of life grow their expertise in digital marketing, sharing his insights from managing campaigns for enterprise clients like The Golden State Warriors, Nike, and Rosetta Stone.
You don't want to be a factory worker. But you need to be able to compete and play with all these different networks. If you know you need to produce a piece of authoritative content, you need to have this machine that's operating. By now, I hope you have a clear understanding of why you shouldn’t be a worker in your Content Factory– but to hire the right people using the right tools so that you can focus on high-leverage coaching, speaking, and relationship-driven activities. I’d love to hear about your progress along the way!
CONTACT DENNIS: @dennisyu
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Positive Vibes Only
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CAREER DEVELOPMENT
UNDERSTANDING AND POSITIONING TO LAND IN THE RIGHT COO ROLE PART 1/5: WHAT TYPE OF COO ARE YOU?
BY GINA RILEY
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When launching an executive search for a Chief Operating Officer, one of the first questions I ask the CEO is what kind of partner they are looking to onboard.
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preparation.
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“head down,” focused on internal, daily operational success.
What type of COO are you?
According to a study outlined in a 2006 HBR article, there are seven roles a COO could play. It is important both the CEO and COO understand their own strengths, gaps, and preferences so they can agree on what each party will lead.
The definition of the COO is varied. In Nathan Bennett and Stephen A. Miles groundbreaking Harvard Business Review’s article, Second in Command: The Misunderstood Role of the Chief Operating Officer they reveal seven, incongruent COO archetypes. The following is a condensed description of each:
This is part one of five in a series about preparing for a COO interview process. This first article will provide a brief definition of each type of COO as defined HBR’s study. The subsequent articles will cover commonly agreed upon competency themes, how the COO candidate stands out from the crowd, and how to prepare for the role. The final article will consider the functional and leadership skills and serve as a starter guide for COO interview
The executor. This COO will lead the execution of strategies developed by the top management team. They lend a “second set of hands” to the CEO with the responsibility for delivering results on a day-to-day, quarter-to-quarter basis. This COO allows the CEO to focus on the strategic, longer-term company challenges and to have an external, “head up” and out approach to assess and learn about the future, whereas the COO partner has their
The other half. This COO complements the current ‘CEO’s experience, style, knowledge base, or preferences’ and it is ‘not necessarily meant to lead to obtaining the role of the CEO’. If this COO is targeting the CEO role, they should do a skills analysis to understand if they have any gaps that would slow their progress in being promoted. The change agent. This leader might be tasked with spearheading a specific strategic priority. It might be a dramatic turnaround, a major organizational change, or provide leadership for a planned high-growth expansion. The mentor. There are several reasons a company might bring on an experienced COO as a mentor for a CEO. They might be a founder or AUTHORITTI5.0 MAGAZINE
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family member without some of the necessary experience to run the company. Or it might be a fast growing or scaling startup where managerial expertise is needed to help advance the business and develop the CEO as it evolves into a new phase of operations. According to the HBR study, there may be an assumption that as the CEO develops, this individual may not be needed in the future.
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CONTRIBUTING WRITER'S PROFILE
The partner. This could be a “two-in-a-box” or co-leadership arrangement where the CEO and COO take advantage of each other’s strengths and can work well for the CEO who is more effective with a partner. The heir apparent. One way for a company to test and train the next CEO is to first let them learn the entirety of the business prior to promoting to the top spot. One downside to this arrangement is if the COO is not promoted, there is a risk the individual might leave the company. The MVP. When a company wants to retain a valuable leader or feels they are at risk of a competitor recruiting them away, this COO may be identified for succession planning purposes. Preparing to land your next COO role
Gina Riley Consulting & creator of the CareerVelocity System™. She is a career transition coach who helps leaders customize their career stories to land jobs where they can leave a legacy. She is an Executive Search Consultant for Talence Group.
With a broad understanding of the seven COO archetypes, it is essential to then understand the research-backed common competency themes required to be an effective operations leader. Part two of the series will review these competencies and set the stage for a COO candidate to stand out from the crowd during an interview process.
Part 1 Homework Assignment Prepare to answer what type of role you are best positioned to play as an operations leader. Which of the seven COO archetypes are in alignment with your experiences, preferences, and professional goals? Explain how your background is best-suited or in alignment with this archetype?
CONTACT GINA: ginarileyconsulting.com
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Nobody is Perfect
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VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
LinkedIn Lead Generation with a Virtual Assistant
BY
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LinkedIn has become a really solid platform for me to build my professional sphere. It’s given me the opportunity to create a personal brand, build connections, invest in those relationships, and turn leads into clients (or even long term friends!)
But while I love using LinkedIn to network, I don’t have the time and energy for active Lead Generation and admin tasks. So over the past 2 years, I’ve outsourced this to an experienced Virtual Assistant (VA) who helps me connect with leads, manages them through Sales Navigator and assists in LinkedIn engagement too.
LinkedIn Lead Generation tasks for your VA Managing Sales Navigator Within LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can set the target audience function by choosing the industry, size, location and other demographics/interests to identify users that are great potential leads. My LinkedIn VA uses this Sales Navigator system as a guide to connect with everyone that fits the criteria and carries out the following tasks: Creates categories and lists for clients, leads and potential groups of target audiences in Sales Navigator Sends out a sequence of scripts to connect and nurture potential leads Keeps me updated on responses and let’s me know when I should take over the conversation
VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
LinkedIn outreach My Marketing and Sales Managers also worked with my LinkedIn VA to create different email scripts to connect with different types of leads. Using these scripts, they can tailor them to strike up the right conversations with ideal leads via InMail and we’ve actually gained a lot of great clients this way just by testing different email scripts!
LinkedIn engagement My VA helps me reply to comments and return the favour by engaging or sharing my connections’ posts in order to stay top of mind. My VA also actively engages and joins LinkedIn Groups too.
Sending connection requests The great thing about LinkedIn is that you have the ability to see who has viewed your profile as well as your second and third connections. My VA connects with second or third connections that have visited my profile, liked or shared my posts or that fit within my ideal Sales Navigator lead profile.
LinkedIn Admin tasks for your VA In addition to the lead generation tasks, there are always admin tasks to keep my VA busy too: Profile optimisation LinkedIn is a way for you to share your personal brand, so by having an optimised LinkedIn profile, you’re likely to show up in search engine results which is great for exposure. Here are all the elements that your VA can optimise for you: Profile Image: Do you have a standard photo or does your profile image stand out? Your VA can add eye catching
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borders around your profile image or help you create your own ‘cover story’ which uses a video as your profile picture when people visit your page.
VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
CONTRIBUTING WRITER'S PROFILE
Profile name: By including keywords in your surname such as ‘Virtual Assistant Expert’, it makes you searchable for these keywords and showcases what you do without someone having to click on your profile. Your VA can help you come up with a great title to add to your profile to increase your visibility. Cover Image: Your VA can design a cover photo that highlights your key services and who you can help. Featured: Use this space to include an introductory video, video testimonials, blog articles or any other significant pieces of work that you have to offer! Sourcing content I love sharing my own original content, but sometimes I miss out on interesting industry related news or articles. My LinkedIn VA grabs bite-sized valuable content for me to share to my audience throughout the week. Filtering connections The more active you are on LinkedIn the more connection requests you’ll receive. My VA filters through my connections and accepts the profiles that are worth continuing a 1-on-1 conversation with.
Linh Podetti is a serial entrepreneur, currently the founder of Outsourcing Angel, a virtual assistants agency and the co-founder of Dawn Media Productions, a video marketing agency. Linh is passionate in helping entrepreneurs achieve freedom by empowering them to build a business that will free up their time to be with their loved ones.
What to conclude from LinkedIn Lead Generation? As you can see, there’s SO much to learn and manage when it comes to LinkedIn Lead Generation. Having an experienced VA is going to save you a lot of time and help you reach more people faster. To me, it’s been well worth the investment and I highly recommend business owners to grow their personal brand and reach through LinkedIn too.
CONTACT LINH: @linhpodetti https://linhpodetti.com/
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QUOTE
REMINDER "It’s okay to take a break." agree
disagree
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PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
THE POWER OF SPIRITUAL AND COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE – EVEN IF YOU HATED MATHS AT SCHOOL
By Louise Taylor
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When Mary told me this month’s topic was Women in S.T.E.M. Science, Technology Engineering and Math the first person I thought of was Vicky Mantone from High School, a quiet person with curly black hair, who hung out in the library, hated sports, topped the class in science, won multiple maths competitions and was not part of the ‘cool’ group. This was back in the day when tech, maths and science wasn’t cool. Though I was relatively good at maths, I wasn’t the biggest fan. Relate? (I hated science, except the human kind). Along with my bestie Maria – our Year 9 Science Experiment was a “Charlie Darwin – This is Your Life” skit. We even cast Mrs Nose the next door neighbour (who looked like a Golden Girl) to share about Charlie as a young boy. This however didn’t convince Sr Bede that we were going to discover a cure for the common cold. We did get 10 points for creativity – which kinda says it all.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
If you hated maths or science at school and are trying to grow financially, the good news is isn’t a big black hole in your brain. You CAN access those deep dark recesses, but first – we must look in the mirror. Here’s the common traps that stop people from achieving financial goals: The Ostrich. If you are fearful or in avoidance of numbers. You won’t see what you need to see, and the future will kick you in the butt before you know it. If you say things like – “I’m not good at problem solving (or numbers)” you will avoid learning, and self -eliminate before you even recognise your hidden strengths. For example you may be good at problem solving but you do it more creatively than logically. You brainstorm. You see connections. Sound familiar?
As the years rolled on and my endeavours (ironically) led me into the field of neuroscience I began profiling the brains of very clever leaders (including University professors and Chancellors) to help them to tap further into their brain potential and recognise how to leverage their thinking style and grow their teams and business.
If you think you can wing it and grow a 6 or 7 figure income or business without knowing your numbers, you’re going to work far too hard because you wont recognise the true cost, value or profit in the work you do. You can make bad pricing decisions, and do too much for too little.
I discovered there were literally thousands of people out there who had insecurities about their intelligence because of the fact they ‘weren’t good at maths’ at school. Conversely – some of the very ‘academic’ mathy clients I profiled often felt left out and struggled with their lack of connection with others.
If you don’t know how to comfortable talk numbers in a proposal or a sales environment, won’t gain respect from decision makers. You’ll leave money on the table. You’ll lose sleep – knowing deep down there are areas of your life or business you are ignoring.
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Here’s what we can learn from the Vickys’ of the world. Focus is everything. Distraction – takes away your ‘traction’. It might look like tunnel vision, but it’s the ability to hone in on ONE problem and stay with it. People who can fully focus may seem dismissive, or even disinterested, but the ability to focus in until the job is done is necessary. Multi-taskers hate this! Creatives can be highly focused and get into a state of ‘flow’ when it comes to their area of creativity, but they don’t know that this state of ‘flow’ relates to any area of intense focus – even numbers or tech. It takes more effort, but it is life changing when you know how to focus. I’m not being negative – I’m just problem solving! What might be a boring problem to the creative, is the key to the kingdom for the mathematician or techy person. They can stay on task until they work out how to fix the problem. They may also appear critical as they often look at a problem first. Problem solving to the creative can feel negative, tedious and slow. It can feel too logical. TIP: Don’t tune out to the problem solver even if they sound negative. They might see obstacles you can’t see and save you from the pain you are ignoring with your big picture thinking! PS This pretty much saved my marriage as I’m married to a logical problem solver (you can thank me later).
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Numbers are not boring if they tell you a story. Often the first place a highly mathematical person will look to find answers is by looking at the numbers. Many CEO’s and CFO’s are numbers driven. Facts give confidence. Evidence is everything. Research gives you depth and confidence about what you are saying. A scientific approach gives you a great argument and clarity about your conclusion. PS Vicky went on to have a hugely successful career in medical research. How to take your creative or emotional intelligence and tap into numbers, sales and money: When numbers tell a story we can get more excited about them. As a Corporate Sales Director and Consultant, I had to read a lot of sales reports. I had to dig deep into the data to understand the conversion rates, trends and behaviours of the sales force. What I discovered was that the more I looked at the numbers, explained in a language that wasn’t accounting speak – I got excited about them! I began to link the sales numbers to training gaps. I started to read trends and see patterns ahead. My natural creative and emotional intelligence helped me to look at the big picture and see things that others who were more single minded couldn’t see. I was able to read future sales trends using intuition but based on cold hard maths!
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I realised the more I looked at sales numbers, the more I sold. It became like a drug! The adrenalin of increasing sales and seeing those numbers on the page got me excited!
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
CONTRIBUTING WRITER'S PROFILE
I learned to appreciate the financial side of business, and realised I had a commercial intelligence when it came to numbers: Spiritual Intelligence and Commercial Intelligence go hand in hand – in a State of flow. This methodology is called Neuroflow™. I began to notice that the deeper I went in my spiritual life, the more I began to have insight, wisdom and dreams about business strategy, as my spiritual intelligence grew. The more I connected with God, the more commercially creative I became. I would wake up at 3am and draw Pricing Algorithms, Branding Wheels and Designs for products or Organisational Strategy. Sometimes I would show up at a client’s having ‘downloaded’ the exact pinpointed solution overnight, and save them months of time and significant $$s. I believe the greatest answers for business are when we tap into this incredible and powerful state of flow, and converge these ideas with our learned knowledge, experience and skills. What we found in our case studies was that as we tapped into this commercial and spiritual intelligence, leveraged each person’s thinking style, experience and knowledge, and did the practical work, we saw sales increase exponentially.
Louise Taylor is a globally respected Speaker, Peak Performance Coach and Neuro-strategist and Creator of Neuro-flow™ system, Money Mindfit™, Sales Mindfit™ and Clarity Programs. Louise specialises in helping individuals and companies to develop a positive money mindset, emotional agility - and approach leadership & business challenges with innovative commercial and people strategies.
We all have that inner genius inside, we have incredible untapped intelligence which we must, and can access – given the right environment and the tools to access our own creative commercial intelligence. To BOOK LOUISE to speak contact louise@louisetaylorglobal.com Learn more about Neuro-flow™, and how you can tap into your Commercial or Spiritual Intelligence to grow your business or team with less hustle and more flow. www.louisetaylorglobal.com
CONTACT LOUISE: www.louisetaylorglobal.com
@louisetaylorglobal
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MINDFULNESS
6 STEPS TO HELP YOU AVOID
DECISION
FATIGUE
By Falguni Katira
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Decision fatigue makes people reckless in making decisions. This could either prompt them to act impulsively or, worse, become indecisive. Whichever way, making an important decision after a series of trivial decisions could create bigger problems. Luckily, here are 6 ways to combat decision fatigue, keep your willpower fresh, and boost your productivity every single day.
1. Make Fewer Decisions Reducing the number of decisions you make in a day is one of the most effective ways to reduce decision fatigue. Establish daily routines that help you minimize and simplify your choices by putting certain decisions on autopilot. For example, you could set a time to sleep and wake-up, have established outfits you rotate each week, have specific days and time you exercise, use automatic bill pay for regular bills, etc. Whatever your preferences are, make a routine and stick to it. With time, this will teach you how to conserve your will power, and give you self-control.
2. Delegate Decisions Delegating decision making is similar to delegating tasks. Not only does this act take the burden of the need to micromanage others off your shoulders, but it also makes those you transfer the decision-making process believe that you trust them. As a manager, try to delegate some decisions to your employees. Or, if you’re married, consider delegating some decision-making to your children, spouse, or other family members.
MINDFULNESS
3. Make Big Decisions In The Morning The time of the day affects our judgment and ability to make the right decisions. The best time most people make accurate and thoughtful decisions is in the morning. The slope of decision-making becomes steeper as the day rolls by. By noon, most people already start making riskier irrational decisions. So do you have a decision that requires careful consideration? Make it in the morning!
4. Limit Your Options When you have too many choices from which to choose from, the chances are that you’ll become mentally stressed out. For example, consider people who “shop around” to get the “best deal.” Although, in the end, they may save a few dollars, they had emotions ranging from anxiety to feeling overwhelmed. Choosing a particular place where you shop, the brands you buy, etc., could take a lot of burden off your shoulders. Don’t let trivial things drain your energy or overload your brain.
5. Simplify your life So many activities, involvements, hobbies, volunteering, and the likes bogging you down? Simplify your life by cutting things that aren’t impotent! You needn’t involve yourself in so many activities and hobbies that you become overwhelmed. Have only a few tasks that you engage in because you’ll have to make fewer decisions.
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MINDFULNESS
CONTRIBUTING WRITER'S PROFILE
Falguni Katira is a professional transformation coach that helps leaders change their habits and thought patterns barring them from their path to holistic success.
6. Stop Wallowing in Regret Many times, we get into the trap of trying to delay making decisions because we feel our choices must be “perfect.” Due to the fear of making the “wrong” choices, many people stall decision making so much so that they begin to make those wrong choices they tried to avoid. If you’ve made a wrong decision, learn from your mistakes, and move on. Save yourself from mental stress by focusing on making better decisions. Stop wallowing in the regret of the past.
CONCLUSION Congratulations! Now you have one less decision to worry about, or to state it more accurately, thousands of decisions. Never forget that your highest priority should be to protect your ability to prioritize. Only use your brainpower on things that you consider essential. The rest will do well on autopilot!
Clients who participate in her coaching program are positioned to adapt to change and maintain their competitive edge in all the dimensions of life, including spiritual, intellectual, career, finance, love/ relationship, family, social, and health / fitness.
CONTACT FALGUNI: www.falgunikatira.com
@falgunikatira @falguni_aastha @aasthabhagia
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Be Positive
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MANIFESTATION
ANE D N T U
M
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APRIL 2022
AGIC
L A
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MANIFESTATION
Can one be mundane and magical at the same time? Let’s explore . . . I was on a road trip with my husband. I shared that I was reflecting on the meaning of turning water into wine. I wondered, could it be real? Maybe! I don’t know! I’ve not experienced it. That pertains to the realm of the mundane. What if we see the reference of turning water to wine as philosophical rather than actual? That pertains to the realm of magic. First, I want to make a disclaimer. This is not an article for religious dissertations, I’m approaching this subject as philosophical. What if this simple reference was a nudge to look at things differently? Let’s reframe. Think outside the scope of reality. Maybe even into the imaginal or magical world. Can we do both? One of my actionable manifesting philosophies is if you can dream it and believe it, you can achieve it. Do you agree? I’ll give you a hint: the “messy” human experience often stops us from believing it. This is the tricky part. When you work to create awareness of the underlying belief stories (that often bring up resistances), exploration is needed at this point. This is the secret of manifesting, for real!
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MANIFESTATION
CONTRIBUTING WRITER'S PROFILE You know - your manifestation can happen as if by magic. Maybe turning water into wine was the first magical process that went viral. Ok, maybe that affirmation is a bit of a stretch, but feel into it! I’m feeling there is something here for budding magicians. Now let’s go back to the title “mundane”. What does it mean? I actually was going to write muggle but thought I’d soften it. According to the Oxford dictionary, mundane means “lacking interest or excitement; dull” or “of this earthly world rather than a heavenly or spiritual one.” So, it’s up to you. How do you define mundane? How do you define magic? Maybe mundane is ordinary. Things we are used to. Then, magical is extraordinary. Things that are out of our realm of reality but show up to make life more colourful on many levels.
Maria Davis from Maria Heals, teaching leadership and personal development. Sharing practical magic to entrepreneurs so they share their gifts with a wider audience and make more money.
By the way, “muggle”, which is often a reference to a nonmagical person, means “a person who is not conversant with a particular activity or skill.” So, if you would like to be both mundane and magical, and a muggle, you can be. You choose! Now, that’s freedom! And that’s what I call magical. From the practical woo (magician) to you, with love. Practice both. The world needs more magic.
CONTACT MARIA: www.mariaheals.com www.linkedin.com/ in/mariadavis8
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"Stop Saying Tomorrow
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ENTREPRENEURSHIP
BUILDING RESILIENCE BY DR. MICHAEL THIEMANN
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Right now, companies are always reading about how they need to be more resilient. This is so they can better deal with the major changes and high level of uncertainty, as well as use the existing opportunities more effectively. But how do you achieve this required resistance? Above all, what type of resistance is meant for which context? Aren't the heavy tankers in particular, with their clear routines and optimized processes, better equipped to maneuver through the sea without major detours? Or is it the small, flexible speedboats that can use their ability to improvise and be adaptable to their advantage? We need to be prepared for anything that might happen if we want to be resilient. This means that our behavior will depend on the situation we are in. To understand this better, let's take a look at an example. Imagine that we are traveling around the world and we will experience all kinds of weather conditions.
Stable and simple situations We prepare for our journey before it even starts. We plan the route and choose the best season. We also pick the sailing boat and supplies we'll need on our tour. Plus, we start a fitness program to get our body in shape and to build up endurance and mental strength. To do this well, we need routines
Chaotic or complex situations
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Even if you prepare for every situation, there is no way to predict everything that could happen. Sometimes something unexpected will happen and it will be hard to know what to do. This is especially true if there are a lot of things that depend on each other. When this happens, it can be hard to know what will happen next because the cycle of events can be unpredictable.
Welcome to non-linear chaotic systems. In these situations, we need to prepare mentally and systematically. Mentally, we need to accept that we can't plan everything and that we can't control every outcome. But we also need to stay focused on our goals. We can do this by being methodical in our approachrelying on experimentation instead of routines. Testing helps us learn what works and what doesn't. We do things that have a good or bad effect and then we don't do those things anymore. But we only do small steps so that we can learn quickly if something new happens. We don't need detailed plans because small, highfrequency learning cycles are important. This behavior makes us more resilient in unknown and unexpected situations.
Organizational resilience As shown in this example, different things make companies strong in different situations. In stable situations,
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companies can be made strong by having routines and optimized processes. But if something unexpected happens, that might not be enough. The company will only be able to recover if it can identify the cause-effect relationships and plan for them. Good companies have well-defined routines and processes that help them do things in a stable or expected way. There are processes for selling products, taking over other companies, and filling out Excel tables. These routines are usually not questioned in regular times. However, the existing routines show their weaknesses when companies are exposed to a lot of uncertainty, and they have to quickly react in a crisis. Experimentation, learning, and quick improvement are important to staying resilient in these situations. Leaders and employees need to have different mindsets in these situations. They need to leave the comfort zone of their planned routines and overcome the fear of making mistakes to achieve the common goal, including sustainable corporate success.
Welcome to the growth mindset
Dr. Michael Thiemann has been helping companies to successfully and sustainably position themselves through innovative and people focused business models for over 30 years. He offers his Europe-wide activities as an interim manager, consultant, coach, keynote speaker and project manager under the Strategy-Lab brand around innovation, corporate strategy, business models, processes and financing.
CONTACT MICHAEL: @dr-michael-thiemann @michael_thiemann_official @michael_thiemann_official AUTHORITTI5.0 MAGAZINE
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Enjoy Every
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WOMEN IN STEM
WHY ASPIRING WOMEN IN STEM NEED A COACH TO GROW TO A SENIOR LEADERSHIP ROLE BY PAMELA KELLERT
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Worldwide, people celebrated International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month in March. Despite the progress made over the previous decades, there is still room for improvement until equal participation of women in businesses and society is achieved. While women make up nearly half of the workforce in businesses, their representation decreases with each hierarchical level on the way to top. Globally, they only represent about 23% of executives. This lack of female participation at the top is even lower in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) sectors, where women are still underrepresented today.
WOMEN IN STEM
So why is this a challenge? As we grow into more complex roles, we need a sounding board to test our ideas and discuss management challenges. For example, how to adapt our leadership or communication style, manage a turnaround, a new product launch, or negotiate with difficult stakeholders? A recent analysis conducted by Innovisor revealed in an automotive company that women and men in top management collaborate differently. Male top managers tend to collaborate horizontally with peers (mainly male peers). In contrast, female top managers tend to collaborate vertically with managers of lower levels (with an inclination towards women).
Pursuing a career in an environment where women are the minority comes with challenges that need to be acknowledged and addressed. Here are three challenges that female professionals, particularly in STEM sectors, need to be aware of when growing their careers to the top and how to overcome them.
This case study suggests that while
The higher women grow, the lonelier it gets
To avoid this scenario, women in senior
With the low representation of women in leadership levels in STEM, they often find themselves the only woman in the room.
men harness the experience of their top management peers, women are not leveraging such knowledge equally as they collaborate with less experienced levels. And hence they work harder and try to work it out on their own, which can lead to exhaustion and burnout.
management positions benefit from strategically developing relationships with internal stakeholders to leverage the inhouse expertise and create greater buy-in. In addition, having a trusted group of external experts can help provide fresh perspectives and generate out-of-the-box thinking.
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Women tend to be less connected Professionals of any background often make the mistake to believe that hard work on detailed tasks will earn them a promotion to a leadership role. This phenomenon occurs particularly in STEM sectors, where it’s easy to go the extra mile with more analyses, creating additional reports or features to showcase our thought leadership. However, these brilliant contributions go unnoticed if only a few see them. Smart professionals understand that they also need to invest in making their contributions seen and heard. And one way of achieving this is by creating a network with relevant professionals who understand and value our unique contributions and who can help promote our expertise. A study of LinkedIn data revealed that women worldwide are 14% to 38% less likely than men to have a strong network. Why is this an important insight? Having a solid network is critical for senior managers for various reasons: strategic leaders need to understand the market, new trends, their client’s needs, their suppliers and competitors. One way of understanding the market is by having a network within our industry to provide us with latest insights and relevant inputs. Another reason is that a
WOMEN IN STEM
strong network can provide us with many opportunities: an introduction to new clients, new talent, critical feedback on our organisation, projects for collaboration and job opportunities. Therefore, female professionals looking to grow to a senior management role, require a deliberate plan of how to expand their network so they can access the stakeholder connections they’ll need to succeed.
Stepping up to a Senior Management Role requires a new set of skills When we grow from an individual contributor to a first management position, we recognise that there are new skills to be learned, particularly how to lead people. Therefore, most organisations either offer internal training or finance external training for their respective employees. More rarely offered in a systemised way is support when transitioning to a senior management role. Again, this step requires focusing on different skills such as strategic thinking and business acumen to create business value. Interestingly when women are assigned a mentor, the career advice they receive tends to focus on improving
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WOMEN IN STEM
CONTRIBUTING WRITER'S PROFILE
their assertiveness or confidence. On the other hand, men tend to receive advice on how to improve their business acumen or strategic thinking, which is a critical skill for senior leadership roles. Particularly for professionals from a STEM background, learning strategic skills and how to create business value are essential to complement their technical background. One way to build these skills can be by completing an MBA. However, a shorter and less costly way to fill this gap is by engaging a coach who can help cover the specific knowledge gaps and provide targeted support.
Conclusion Women in STEM sectors experiencing challenges in progressing their careers can overcome these by establishing a deliberate plan. If you are experiencing these challenges, know that you are not alone. Surround yourself with professional support to give you the targeted tools and experience to make your career growth easier. If you wish to discuss your journey towards senior management, get in touch for a confidential conversation.
Pamela Kellert helps female professionals in STEM sectors transition to senior management roles by learning strategic non-technical skills. She is a seasoned Strategic Leadership Expert with over 16 year’s experience working in Strategy, Business Development and Project Delivery, heading diverse teams at leading organisations across Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. She has managed complex engineering projects and profit & loss responsibility of over $100 million with a team of over 100 employees. Throughout her career, she has coached professionals in their leadership journey and created a systemised online coaching program to help women accelerate their careers to senior leadership roles.
CONTACT PAMELLA: Email: pamela@womenleadinginstem.com Website: www.womenleadinginstem.com
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SUCCESS NEEDS A PROCESS.
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NEUROSCIENCE
HERE’S HOW MAKING COMPARISONS CAN HELP OR HURT YOU BY OMOZUA ISIRAMEN
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We all do it. We compare ourselves to others sometimes. And I'm pretty sure that you've heard that it's a bad thing. And it can be. When you compare your life to someone's portrayal of their seemingly picture-perfect life on social media or where you are in your career at your age to somebody who seems to have taken a golden escalator straight to the top, it can feel awful, demotivating, and humiliating. It can be a negative thing, bringing on feelings of stress, shame, or jealousy and making you more competitive than necessary. But comparing yourself to others is not always bad. It can also be inspiring, motivating, and hopeful to compare yourself to people who have overcome obstacles, worked hard, and figured out ways to achieve and progress despite the odds. You might even think "If they can do it, so can I!" In these instances, making comparisons can help us feel better about ourselves and our situations. There are two types of social comparison, upward and downward, and how each affects you depends on many different things.
Social Comparison Theory Defined
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When you compare yourself to friends or colleagues using a trait that you consider desirable, for example, money or success, this is known as social comparison. Social comparison is where we compare certain aspects of ourselves, such as our behavior, opinions, status, or success, to other people so that we can form assessments of ourselves. In 1954, Leon Festinger proposed that social comparison was driven by a need to evaluate ourselves so that we had more information. More recent theory suggests that social comparison is motivated by three drives: Self-evaluation Self-improvement Self-enhancement The concept of social comparison has expanded dramatically from the initially limited theory that only encompassed opinions and abilities to include more abstract concepts such as job satisfaction and overall life success.
Upward and Downward Comparisons Comparing ourselves to others is a natural human behavior that probably originally evolved to help us live together in communities, learn from one another, and adopt the behaviors of a group to fit in. It also can be a form of introspective thinking, to gauge how we're doing in life, re-evaluate plans, and determine necessary actions in
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When you engage in upward social comparison, you are comparing yourself to someone who is perceived to be more capable or performing better than you. When you engage in downward social comparison, you are comparing yourself to someone who is perceived to be less capable or performing worse than you. The direction of the comparison doesn’t coincide with the direction of the outcome. Both types of social comparison can have negative and positive effects. Comparison isn't automatically bad either way.
Comparing Can Have a Negative Impact Whenever people gather, we tend to compare ourselves and form some sort of hierarchy, formal or unspoken. We can't help it. Whether a person is higher up or further down on the totem pole, we just naturally tend to compare. Clubs have elected officers and give awards to people, and everyone knows the members with the most influence. Moms’ groups compare their babies’ milestones and their relationships in an effort to gauge how their kids are progressing and to measure how well they're fulfilling the role of mother. When you make a comparison and find yourself lacking, it can create stress and feelings of shame or hopelessness. On the other hand, you can appear overly confident or competitive when you make downward social comparisons, which may then put strains on your relationships.
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The Impact of Social Media Social media has taken social comparison to a whole new level. On social platforms, you can see who is doing what, and you may get stressed or depressed wondering if you’re doing enough, earning enough, or enjoying life enough. "FOMO," fear of missing out, is real. Remember, when you compare your regular life with someone else's highlights, you are almost always going to come up lacking. Social media exacerbates social comparison in all the worst ways, making us feel worse about ourselves. Research validates this.
Comparisons Can Have Benefits Too There are also potential positive aspects to social comparison. When the people we compare ourselves to are doing well, they can inspire us to do our best also. This is especially true if they share information about their path, and you are open to learning with a growth mindset. When you make downward comparisons to others who have it worse than you, it can make you appreciate what you have more. It can help you realize that you could be in a worse position, feel more gratitude, and experience more empathy. People often do better and accomplish more if they're trying to keep up with a role model or successful friend. We can elevate ourselves by supporting others. It's a win/win. Even the desire to avoid the embarrassment of failure can be a strong motivator.
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Competition can be healthy and friendly and positive. The main difference between friendly and non-friendly competition is the supportiveness factor. Unhealthy competitors delight in one-upmanship and the failure of others. Healthy competition, on the other hand, can motivate you to succeed.
How to Use Comparison to Help You If you find yourself making social comparisons that aren't helping you or hooked on the need to feel superior via downward social comparison or beating yourself up when you make upward social comparisons, it's important to become aware of and revise your thinking habits. Here are some effective ways that you can train your brain to make social comparisons that help you:
Find Role Models If you find role models and learn from them, you can gain the benefits of their success while avoiding some of their stumbles. To avoid adding an unhealthy element of competitiveness to your personal or professional relationships, it may be easier to learn from a public figure rather than a person in your own life.
Create a Support Circle It’s easier to avoid unhealthy competition, both professionally and personally, if you create a group of supportive people with
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similar interests or goals. This can be an informal group of friends who share a common interest, like exercising or reading. Or you can join an organized group, like Toastmasters.
Find a Partner Another way to compare and compete in a healthy way is to find a partner to engage in an activity with. Rather than joining or forming a group, you and your buddy can check in with each other at scheduled times, track each other's progress, celebrate achievements, and help motivate one another to stick to the plan. Studies show that having an accountability partner makes you vastly more likely to reach your goals.
Focus on Your Strengths When you find yourself making comparisons and feeling bad about yourself or envious of someone else, it can help to remind yourself of your own accomplishments and strengths. Remind yourself of something you worked at and achieved and the qualities you possess that made it happen. Really internalize and feel the feelings of pride, strength, and accomplishment. This will help keep the neurochemical dopamine flowing and make you more motivated and happier.
Limit social media Using social media can skew your perceptions of what is realistic and interrupt and interfere with in-person communications.
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Become aware of your usage habits and how they affect you and set limits accordingly. You’ll stay connected better with people in your life if you have certain times each day when your social media notifications are off. Commit to not checking social media during meals with family and friends, when playing with children, talking with someone, or during certain blocks of time while working. Make sure that your phone does not interfere with your career, distracting you from your responsibilities and conversations with colleagues.
Practice Gratitude One reason comparisons can make us feel bad is that they reinforce a sense of lack. One habit to counter this is to find gratitude for what you do have.
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There are two easy ways to encourage gratitude daily. The first is to think of or write down a few things each day that you are grateful for. Another way is to reframe your thoughts on the spot. When you become aware of yourself making comparisons that are having a negative impact on you, challenge your thoughts. Counter them with good memories of achievements or obstacles you have overcome or supportive affirmations. There is ample evidence that focusing on gratitude, rather than negative circumstances, neutral events that are neither positive nor negative, or downward social comparisons, leads to: Increased positive affect Better sleep
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Higher levels of optimism (which is a buffer against the negative effects of downward social comparisons) More prosocial behavior
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CONTRIBUTING WRITER'S PROFILE
Use Envy to Grow Even if you do everything right by avoiding social media, staying focused on your own goals, and practicing gratitude, you will occasionally still feel envious. This can either leave you with resentment and feelings of inadequacy or you can use it to find motivation and self-awareness. Wanting things is not inherently bad. However, it's healthy to reflect on why you want what someone else has. For example, if someone just landed a job you envy, what makes you envious? Is it the money? Is it the status? Is it the nature of the work itself? The purpose of the work? These kinds of questions can help you clarify what you want and value. So, then you can identify steps to take and make a plan that is right for you to achieve.
Omozua Isiramen is a High-Performance Brain & Neuro Agility Trainer and Certified Life & Executive Neuro-Leadership Coach.
Social comparisons are normal. We all engage in them at times. This behavior can be inspiring and motivating, or it can have negative side effects. How it affects us is up to us. The research about social comparisons is complex and not clear-cut. Yet, one pattern seems overwhelmingly clear. That is that the outcome of social comparisons hinges on who we are, who we are comparing ourselves to, and how we frame the comparison.
Founder of CWO Solutions - Executive Coaching with Omozua, Co-Founder of the Systemic Neuroscience Consulting Group Neuro-Link’s Regional Corporate Business Partner & Lead Master Trainer for NAP™ and High Achiever Emotional Intelligence™ and Co-Creator of the 3-to-5 BrainSystem Code™ and Signature Impact Leadership Program. In her work as a Certified High-Performance Brain & Neuro Agility Trainer; Executive Intelligent Leadership and Neuroscience Coach, she uses emotional mastery and neuroscience-based approaches to empower & prepare clients’ hearts & heads to take the journey from where they are to where they want to be by bravely accessing and optimizing their limitless brain potential. Power Slogan: Be CEO of Brain
It is important to remember that each of us is born into a unique set of circumstances, in a unique environment, and our successes are not limited by the people to who we compare ourselves. Instead, we will help ourselves if we use social comparisons to inspire and motivate us and focus on and are grateful for what we have achieved.
CONTACT OMOZUA:
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Email: takeaction@omozua.com Website: https://www.omozua.com/ linkedin.com/in/omozuaisiramen/ AUTHORITTI5.0 MAGAZINE
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The
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PODCAST IN 2022
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POWERFUL TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL
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Given this information, it only makes sense to sneak in a few keywords in your podcast’s title and descriptions, if only to give you a little boost in the rankings. Don’t go overboard with the keywords, though. Get your keywords in, but try to keep your title sounding as natural as you can.
Choose the Right Theme The theme of your podcast will play a huge role in determining its success.
Having keywords in your podcast title, subtitle, and description should just make it a little easier to find and rank, and can definitely help your podcast’s success.
This doesn’t mean that you should choose a topic you believe will capture a large audience, however. What it means is that you should pick a theme you can commit to for the long haul. If you are truly passionate about what you are talking about, that will resonate with others who share the same passion.
Invest in Decent Equipment Podcasts are a form of entertainment. Nobody wants to have to strain just to hear what you and your guests are saying. Having a decent microphone, a headset, and some basic audio editing software can make huge difference in how your podcast audio sounds.
Make Your Podcast SEOFriendly Most people probably don’t realize that iTunes and Google Podcasts are actually search engines.
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CONTRIBUTING WRITER'S PROFILE
Focus on Content Diversification Try to maximize your podcast episode by creating teaser, nuggets and promo materials out of it. This doesn’t mean distributing your content in different platforms, but creating different content from your main episode to reach more people and promotions. The concept of diversifying a content is easier said than done, partnering with a creative agency is highly advised.
Jan Santos is a Branding Coach from the Philippines. He runs The Creative Talk Podcast on Apple/ITunes and Spotify and YouTube, supporting designers and entrepreneurs to stand-out and establish a market competitive edge. His goal is to solidify ones branding and identity, ensuring the business to be unique and memorable by means of creating a consistent visual style, goal and focus.
Be Consistent Find a schedule you can commit to, and commit to it fully. Your listeners want to know they can rely and depend on you to come out with a podcast on a regular basis. You are in a relationship with your audience, and they need to know you can be counted on. By giving them a sense of security that you are there for them, you can begin to build loyalty with your listeners.
CONTACT JAN: @thecreativescoopjansantos @thecreativescoopjansantos
Jan Santos
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BUSINESS TOOLS
Book Of App Of The Month The Month Available
Dubb: Email, SMS, CRM videos How do I make good decisions? This is a question many leaders ask as they consider choices on investments, hiring (and firing), product launches, acquisitions, and more. Often people think the decision itself is what makes a good outcome but, in reality, the many choices that follow a decision heavily influence its level of success. Well Made Decisions explores how leaders can both make a choice and make it right through exceptional implementation.
Read more on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Well-MadeDecisions-FinishingStart/dp/1637306121
Are you in a relationship-based business? Are you interested in building trust and streamlining communication with your contacts? Do you want to leverage the power of video to grow your business? The Dubb mobile app for Android lets you create trackable, screen recordings to help communicate your ideas with video. Video is one of the most powerful means conveying information and personalizing information. In fact, 70% of people would rather watch a video than read text. And video helps people improve email reply rates by 500% and sales conversion rates by up to 300%.
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PODCAST OF THE WEEK
PODCAST OF THE MONTH
NAME OF PODCAST: STaR Coaches Women in STEM Career & Confidence is the podcast for scientific and professional women who want to restore confidence, make meaningful impact and balance the things and people that mean most to them. Dr Hannah Roberts will be sharing with you insights and inspiration into the mindset and skillset to help you navigate your career and lead powerfully.
Learn more at: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcas t/women-in-stem-careerconfidence/id1563574394
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