Have you ever noticed how usually your conversations are ... "reruns?" And have you given any thought to how that pattern is helping or stifling your company growth?
Let me explain what I mean.
We each and every tend to invest time with the same people today in the very same environments, read the very same kind of books, watch the exact same genre of movies or television programs, follow the very same sporting events... Year following year. Meeting following meeting. Conversation following conversation. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that ... unless you in no way develop the space for 'new' conversations.
Numerous of my customers (financial advisors and enterprise owners) comment that they're overworked and overwhelmed and do not have time to feel about their organization from a new perspective. And they think they'd uncover new perspective if they could just carve out time on their workday calendar to think.
But they seldom make that time. AND when they do, they discover that thinking time is not a guaranteed source of new ideas.
What about leisure time? Nicely most of us repeat the identical behaviors and exact same conversations every evening, every single weekend, each and every vacation. We gather with pals and family for repeat events and catch up on the same topics we spoke of the last time we had been together.
If you want new ideas, you want new information, new experiences, and new conversations that alter your thoughts.
I learned this initial hand when I moved to New York to work for Avon Products and needed to uncover a place to live. My new 'landlord' was a guy who'd been living in the apartment the longest - a law school student who had turned down Harvard in order to join the first law class of Queens College. The new program emphasized public service law.
One of my other roommates was an opera student, working evenings as an usher at the Metropolitan Opera Home, although becoming taught by 1 of the luminaries of the opera world. And the third was an independent filmmaker.
And who was I in this mix? An MBA graduate performing strategic preparing for Avon's eight Pacific Rim markets.
We had particularly small in popular in terms of background or function experiences. So 80 percent of our conversations over a large number of evenings and weekends were new, fresh, and unexpected. That time together shaped each and every of our lives, our selections and the opportunities we uncovered.
Now I Don't want you to feel that the goal is to have new conversations 80 percent of your time. It would be excellent if it could happen even 20 percent of your day, but that is possibly unrealistic too.
So let me share three DO's that make 'moments' when 80 percent of the conversation is 'new.'
DO Mix up the folks you're spending time with.
This past week, for example, I shared wine and fine food with an eclectic group of persons - a bankruptcy attorney, a music producer, a landscape architect, a technology professional, a CEO of a symphony orchestra. Over the past years, a tiny group of us has been the catalysts for these gatherings.
Each and every of us in is distinctive professions and have totally various groups of colleagues and buddies. We started with four or five many people and invite others who get pleasure from wine and conversation and set dates to get together.
Bringing changing mixes of consumers together has ensured we've had unexpected conversations. Our discussion this time lasted for practically six hours. And less than 20 percent of our talk was on topics we often invest time on.
DO Alter the locations where you gather.
We've invited men and women to join us anyplace wine and food could easily and comfortably be enjoyed. So in some cases we meet at restaurants, with the clatter of individuals coming and going. Other times we meet in conference rooms of office buildings, using their lengthy table to spread out even more than 20 bottles of wine in paper wrappers for an evening of wine tasting. We've even gathered in houses, standing around the kitchen and chatting although creating the meal.
DO Hold on to your curiosity.
It is all about attitude. Everybody who sat around the table this week enjoyed the mystery of becoming with new consumers and the possibilities that creates. Wine tasting is our excuse for coming together and less than 20 percent of our conversation.
Whether or not you meet over wine, or at a non-profit activity, or hiking, or playing golf, use these DO's to meet individuals you don't however know, to rejoice in the fresh conversations and stir up new possibilities in your home business and life.
Copyright (c) 2008 Linda Feinholz
