March 4, 2009

Edited and Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Published by Success Performance Solutions. Major Sponsor,

2008 Best Places to Work In Pennsylvania

What's Inside this issue of The TotalView:

1.  Trust:It's all about endorsement

2.  Perfect Labor Storm Warnings

3.  Ready to Manage Webstore

4.  Link Me, Tweet Me, Nudge Me Webinar

5.  Quotes from the Hire Authorities

1.  Trust: It's all about endorsement

Trust in our leaders these days seems to be dropping faster than the Dow. From lies about WMDs in Iraq to fabricated balance sheets to elaborate Ponzi schemes, the trust we
placed in elected and corporate executives to protect us has been shattered. 

Corporate executives have lied to shareholders, and then Congress, only to receive bailout money which they choose to spend on bonuses, parties, and elaborate office remodeling.
Public officials are nominated to the highest positions in our country only to find out they lied about their taxes, domestic affairs, and lobbying.

The question everyone seems to be asking today is: who can you trust? 

That very question in mostly indirect ways is cropping up everywhere I look - especially blogs and discussion boards in LinkedIn.  The opinions about values, ethics, integrity
and the like are as plentiful as the people writing them.

But the discussion of trust and endorsement has a relevance well beyond leadership. Social networking is growing exponentially.  Reid Hoffman, the CEO of Linkedin.com in a CNN interview this past Monday said that his site has a new signup every single second. But joining a network and earning the right to receive genuine recommendations requires
that trust be created. 

Bob Littell created a term for this: netweaving. According to Littell, netweaving is 180 degrees different from networking. Networking is seeking to sell to others. With netweaving,
the focus is on the other person. Netweaving is seeking to help others.

Netweaving is all about gaining (of giving) endorsement. To understand endorsement I have to turn no further than my mentor and friend Judy Suiter. 

From the day I met Judy over 13 years ago, she's been talking about her "global model of endorsement."  While always important, her expertise on this subject has never been as
relevant and urgent as it is today in this sxciting but explosive time of change. All you have to do is consider the precipitous fall from grace of so many of our leaders and the explosive growth of online social networking. We are front row witnesses to this simultaneous destruction and the incidental birth of endorsement occuring simultaneously in our daily lives.

To understand how endorsement is developed and lost is as critical as a breath of air for every person, especially those aspiring to lead. Without it, leadership is a position, void of
authority and authenticity.

Several years ago, Judy published a book, The Ripple Effect. It's been a mainstay of my library ever since. It's a quick and easy read and I encourage everyone to order a copy. I won't go into all the details here but want to focus on two areas: what is endorsement and what are the first steps in building it?

What is endorsement?  Judy offers this explanation:

Endorsement is the approval, backing, or support of a person, organization, or thing by means of pledging one's own assets. The assets we pledge in giving (or gain in
receiving) endorsement may include the following:

• money
• time
• talents
• contacts
• reputation
• energy

Endorsement is reciprocal, not simply transactional, which means it's a lot more than swapping contacts or business leads. It's about investing your personal reputation and
credibility in someone's else cause.

What is the first step you must take to build credibility and gain endorsement?  It's quite basic and most likely one you've heard before: "know yourself."  If you don't understand yourself and how others see you, you can't possibly create trust.  To understand yourself and begin the path toward endorsement, I recommend two assessments:

CriteriaOne DISC
Business Values and Motivators

CriteriaOne DISC will help you understand how others see you approach problems, people, pace and procedures.  If you don't behave in a way others see as acceptable, you'll never
gain their trust. 

But observation is only stage one of how people decided to trust others or disengage from them. 

Once an interaction begins, people want to know you understand what they value. Before you can understand what others value, you must understand what you value the most -
and the least.  Business Values and Motivators reveals how an individual prioritizes six universal values. 

2.  Perfect Labor Storm Warnings   

Subscribe to the Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 blog and receive skilled worker shortage updates like this:

By 2012, more than 800 million users worldwide will participate in social networks via their mobile device, up from 82 million in 2007.

Source: Art Koff of retiredbrains.com

Learn more about workforce trends. Purchase the NEW Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 books (soft and hard cover versions) at PerfectLaborStorm.com.

New Perfect Labor Storm videos added. Watch now!

3.  Now Open:  Ready-to-Manage Webstore

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Visit our new Ready-to-Manage Webstore offering a complete selection of organizational and personal development tools for companies, consultants, trainers, facilitators, and individuals to help people reach their potential.

Vist    Ready-to-Manage Webstore

or check out our March Free Trial Offers

The Affordable Training Solution for every size business.....and individuals too!

4. Link Me, Tweet Me, Nudge Me Webinar

WEBINAR - March 24, 2009 - 11 AM EDT
FREE Registration - Only a few seats left!

Keen to harness online networking and other Web 2.0 technologies, many organizations are experimenting with the tools or deploying them on a trial basis.

• How can your business apply social networking to your employees and customers?
• What are other businesses doing to leverage the new technologies?
• How will online networks change the way you do business?

There are many options and several legitimate applications. This seminar will help participants understand how social media will change the way they do business and how to leverage the applications to their advantage.

During this webinar, you will learn about:

• What the heck is social media (or Social Media 101)
• The new marketing toolbox: from blogs to Twitter
• Why you should consider using social media now more than ever
• Where and how to get started

Register today for Link Me, Tweet Me, Nudge Me

Or contact us to schedule a Link me, Tweet me, Nudge me presentation, keynote, or workshop at your next association, chamber, or in-service training!

5. Quotes from Hire Authorities

An economist's guess is liable to be as good as anybody else's.

 

Will Rogers

Permission is granted to consultants, managers, business owners and HR professionals to reproduce content from this newsletter for your internal publications, or to distribute copies to your workforce, on the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Ira S Wolfe and Success Performance Solutions. Copyright 2008 Ira S Wolfe."  We also hope you will forward the newsletter in its entirety and recommend to others that they subscribe.

Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2009 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only.