September 2021
ELECTRIC IMPULSE COMMUNICATIONS
NEWSLETTER
|
|
HERBIE'S HINTS (named after my dad!)
As a kid I always got attached to the family car. When I was about six, I remember going to the garage to say good-by to the family car: a Buick convertible sedan. Somehow that car had taken us on family vacations, the old-fashioned way, by car.
Between all of our luggage my dad would swear that it wouldn’t fit in the trunk. Somehow we would be ready to leave, although there was minimal room in the backseat for my sister and me.
I thought about my history of being attached to cars as I mentally prepare to sell my Boxster. I bought it a few months before Herbie died. It was the last decision he weighed in on. I still remember telling him my idea: I could keep my Jeep that had no air conditioning, and get this then 10-year old Boxster for the summer months. He reminded me that I would have to start it every couple of weeks over the winter when I was not driving it.
Every time I have gotten in the car to start it, for every year since 2006, every week from November to April, I thought of my dad.
|
|
ASK LESLIE
Stay on Your Cutting Edge
|
Speaking is hard work or should be. One consistent thing I hear from clients after working with me on a presentation, is that they now realize how hard it is to deliver a stellar speech. |
This week on Forum 360 I had the honor to interview Akron native Akron's Stephen A. Koerner, now Johnson Space Center Deputy Director, Imagine from the UA engineering program to NASA and his role in 41 space shuttle flights. |
|
In 1997 a chance meeting between scientists at a photocopier led to the breakthrough that laid the foundation for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. |
|
1. Productivity Versus Innovation
The internet has fundamentally changed what social scientists once thought about collaboration. The people you don’t regularly interact with are called weak ties: important to innovation because they bring a fresher perspective. Researchers found that while working remotely individuals were more productive, BUT had less interaction with their weak ties.
Lesson Learned: It can take time for the effect of a decline in conversations with weak ties to show up. The result is more likely to be a lag in innovation rather than a decline in immediate productivity. Companies that moved to remote early, had more delays in new products than before the pandemic. Are you evaluating remote versus in-office only on productivity?
|
|
2. Mentorship Goes Missing
Researchers found that while working remotely, workers were more productive. They communicated more with people at different levels and with close colleagues. They communicated 21% less with their weak ties, people they don’t regularly interact with.
Lesson Learned: What if you don’t know they are there, you don’t know they’re valuable to meet, you don’t know their work exists and is important And they don’t know about you and your work. Is it more difficult to find a mentor in a remote world?
|
|
3. How Will They Know?
Whitney Houston sang, How Will I Know? I ask How Will They Know? How will decision makers above you on the organizational chart see you shine? How will you stand out virtually: on Zoom, Airmeet, Gather, or by phone? How will they know you are ready for that promotion? How will you stand out?
Lesson Learned: Whether your workplace is remote or a hybrid, it is up to you to figure out how to stay on decision maker’s radar screen. How can you replace the drop by visits, the sharing of success that could happen organically in the office? How can you toot your own horn while not being the whole band?
|
|
Upcoming Forum 360 Shows (w/Leslie as Moderator)
Hollywood Comes to Forum 360
Guest: Daniel M. Cohen, author, film writer, director
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
WAKR AM 1590 Sunday, 5:00 pm, Monday 12:30 am For online streaming go to http://akronnewsnow.com/ and click Listen Live.
|
|
|
|
One day, ONE, Benji wasn’t the worst behaved dog at the park. The nicest man lives near the park that I go to most mornings to walk Benji. He walks his Mastiff and Bulldog. Most days behind him if you look closely, you will see his two cats walking about 20 feet behind this unlikely trio. I have tried to video this site with my phone, but truly you have to see it to believe it.
While walking Benji I always keep an eye out for a dog in the distance It gives me time to change direction or go off to the side and get out of the way! One particular day I saw the trio a couple hundred feet in front of me. I stopped to decide my strategy. Before I could do anything, the Mastiff got loose and made a beeline for Benji. Then the Bulldog got loose and made a beeline for Benji.
I was laughing. For one day, ONE, Benji was not the worst behaved dog at the park!
|
|
Video & Vine
Re-branded from VIDEO & YOU, we added fruit of the VINE (WINE), a smaller group (4) and a shorter program to be as COVID safe as possible. Each participant will have the opportunity to be taped, reviewed and improved!
October 28th 5:00pm – 6:30pm and
December 7th 5:00pm – 6:30pm
Email us at [email protected] for further information or to RSVP to one of our events.
Ask me about my 10 in 10!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
