April 2021
ELECTRIC IMPULSE COMMUNICATIONS
NEWSLETTER
HERBIE'S HINTS (named after my dad!)

Do you ever find yourself asking CAN PEOPLE CHANGE?
 
Both a downside and an upside of Facebook is people posting missing pets. It’s an upside that pet owners have the ability to get the word out about their missing pet and to see pets “reunited” with their family. It’s a downside that the pet is missing and sometimes not found.
 
When I see the missing cats I think of the two cats I had while growing up. When I was very little my dad used to say that I could have any kind of animal that I wanted except a cat. So when I was about 6 I found a tiny white kitten. I named her Snowflake. My dad wouldn’t let me keep her and she had to be re-homed.
 
Fast forward 25 years. We had a 4 –stall barn at our house. One day a cat walked into the barn and started hanging out, teasing but staying out of danger of the dogs. My dad made this 4-sided wooded box for the cat to hang out in while she was in the barn. Herbie went on to add cat food to the delivery of horse feed. As winter was approaching, he added a light bulb to the box to provide heat for the cat.
 
I think of my dad’s evolved feeling, thinking, and doing about cats. I know it is possible for people to change. They have to want to change. And then, like Herbie, “do” something that is observable, measurable evidence that change happened.
ASK LESLIE
Stay on Your Cutting Edge
Post-Covid University: Re-Invent, Re-Vise and Re-Visit Skills You Perfected Before the World Changed 

We all have been “out of the saddle” for a year. Are those networking skills you honed to perfection a little rusty?

  • How will you be at attending a meeting in person after a year of virtual-head-shot-only attendance?
  • How will presenting in person be different than presenting on zoom . . . did you know it was different?
  • To shake hands or not shake hands, have you decided?

This 2-session program will help your C-level as well as your Gen C level acclimate back to a world outside of the basement or the dining room table. Ask me for details.
Forum 360 is a TV show on PBS that gives people in NE Ohio 26 minutes to tell their story. A team of hosts rotate as each host selects the theme, finds the guests, and creates the questions for their show. In today’s world it is likely that you will be a guest on a podcast, radio or TV show or host virtually. Some lessons I have learned from being a host for almost two decades.
1. What Makes a Good Guest
Guests are unpredictable. The ones you think are going to be great often disappoint. The seemingly normal, average person that just has their own story to tell, often hit it out of the park. One of my most memorable shows, was a show I did about 15 years ago on Vietnam vets who returned to visit Vietnam. My guests were not famous nor well-educated. Their authenticity made the content remarkable.
 
Lesson Learned:  When I began as a host, I had this informal competition with another host, as to who could land the most “Akron famous” guests. It took me awhile to realize that the quality of a guest is not connected to their title, votes received, or salary. An authentic person with a good story told well makes the best guest. Can you find your authentic story and tell it well?
2. What Makes a Good Host
Campy Russell, Cavalier Living Legend, was an early guest on Forum 360, then called Civic Forum. He has returned to the show a dozen times. The first time he was a guest I researched his sports history as well as crafting the questions I would ask. I knew his stats in college and the NBA. So when he said he was not a shooter, I was confused, I knew his points per game.
 
Lesson Learned: I am thankful every day that I stopped and asked what he meant. His answer led to his famous shooter versus scorer analogy.  Intellectual curiosity is defined as curiosity that leads to an acquisition of general knowledge. The bottom line for a “good” host is to be curious: to be more interested in the guest than in yourself, your preparation or how you will look literally or figuratively. The only way to be curious is to really listen and not ask what I refer to as “lazy questions”. How curious are you?
3. What Makes a Good Topic
A show that featured an innovative judge blazing a trail in non-traditional sentencing was one of the most watched shows. It’s not so much that there are good topics and bad topics. The first question: is the topic wide and deep enough to sustain 26 minutes of the spotlight? At its core, is there a good story?
 
Lesson Learned: I learned the hard way that shows that featured candidates running for office were not well watched. Usually there was not a good story at the core. There is a saying that the quality of conversation comes from the quality of questions. So the magic is in how each question is crafted. The quality of the decisions you make daily also depend on the quality of the questions that you ask. Do you spend time crafting your questions?
Leslie Live
Present to the C-Level
When: April 22 @ 12pm EST
Duration: 30 minutes
Zoom Meeting ID: 881 5018 5556
Password: 123

Upcoming Forum 360 Shows (w/Leslie as Moderator)

From Harvard to Homeless
Re-visited with Guest Peter Lawson Jones
 
A New Coaching Dynasty: The Joyce Family
Guests: St. V Coach Dru Joyce II, St. Ignatious Coach Cam Joyce, and Cleveland State Coach Dru Joyce III

Watch/ Listen to Forum 360:
Western Reserve Public Media, PBS-TV, PBS Fusion Channels 45 & 49 (Time Warner channel 993) - Mondays at 8 pm and Saturdays at 5:00 pm. After the show airs, you can download it here.

WONE FM 97.5 Sunday 6 am
For online streaming go to http://wone.net/ and click Listen Live. 

WAKR AM 1590 Sunday, 5:00 pm, Monday 12:30 am For online streaming go to http://akronnewsnow.com/ and click Listen Live.
Benji has two personalities: the Sweetest Dog ever and Psycho Dog. There is no in-between. It is as though a switch is turned on and he goes into a different zone. Heavy breathing and a psychotic focus on his target are the top two signs that he is in Psycho Dog mode. A plate of steak served rare doesn’t interest him when he is in this zone.
 
My current strategy is to divert his attention. This works best if I can see something that may trigger this response before he sees it or I have a treat he sees as high value. A cube of turkey might do it but a dry biscuit is not close to high value.
 
Benji may seem like an extreme example. The reason I share it is because we all have a “switch.” Most of the time it is not as fast nor as extreme, but it is still a switch.
  • Have you ever heard someone’s name or someone’s voice and it set you off?
  • Have you ever looked at a return address and smiled and you couldn’t wait to tear the envelope open?
  • Perhaps you were sitting at a meeting, pre-covid, and stopped breathing momentarily when “that person” walked in.

Perhaps we can be aware a little earlier when something sets us off . . . and distract or know what is our high value treat.
HorseTalk: Lessons in Leadership
Come join us for our signature event.
Prior experience with horses not necessary or even helpful!
 
Spring June 11 Friday, 9 -1pm
Summer July 30 Friday 9 -1pm
Fall September 10 Friday 9 – 5pm

Sunday, August 15 from 9am - 3pm 
Camp Next
 
We are looking forward to this being our first in-person event in 18 months. Two of our favorite experts have already said YES.

Rachel Day, our Confidence and Self-Esteem Expert and Paul Cincotta, our etiquette and restaurant expert.
 
Please think about what 14-26 year olds you know or are related to that could benefit from this Boot Camp.


Email us at [email protected] for further information or to RSVP to one of our events.

     
Ask me about my Covid 10! 
Electric Impulse Communications
330.607.5730
http://electricimpulse.com
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