Launching The Emergency Slide

There’s been lots of chatter last week about a certain flight attendant launching the emergency slide inappropriately. Which begs an interesting question: When should you deploy yours?

Drama aside, sometimes it’s appropriate to make a hasty exit from your client.

You (or your team) don’t get no respect. I’m not talking about checking a blackberry during a meeting, but hard core bad behavior to you, your team or your client’s team. Belittling, berating or threatening are not OK. Cut those folks loose if you can’t immediately turn them around.

Ethics have taken a holiday. Sometimes, big change (think mergers, layoffs, bet-the-career lawsuits) tempts clients to do things they’d never consider under other circumstances. Help them get their bearings back and coach them through hard change but don’t follow (or tacitly support) their ethical lapses.

The dog ate my homework. You’re working on a critical project that requires collaboration with your client—data access, emails, approvals, meetings. There’s always an excuse why something can’t be done by the due date (often including getting your bills paid.) This is a client who frequently fails—don’t let them torpedo your work.

Launching the emergency slide—sometimes, it’s the best option.

Backwards In High Heels

Famously said of Ginger Rogers: She did everything Fred Astaire did but backwards and in high heels.

Not so different from boutique firms and independents competing against the big guys. Like Fred and Ginger, the best make it look effortless while working constantly on their footwork.

The key is to play to your strengths and highlight the things you deliver that the global behemoths can’t touch. For example:

Make technology work for you. Gone are the days when big meant the best technology. Small means nimble (not to mention you can squeeze a nickel until the buffalo screams.) Embrace new (cheaper) technology while the big guys waste months hammering it out in committee. You—if you’ve got the chutzpah—can now be first to market.

Inject your personality. You can afford to be a little cheeky in order to stand out. Don’t fall into the trap of saying “it’s our service, our people, our technology”. Blah, blah, blah. Show them instead. Let potential clients see you and your team as real people. Demonstrate who you are and what they can expect from you.

Put your stamp on everything. Whether you work solo or lead a group, make sure your beliefs and practices are woven into everything you do. Proposals. Social media interaction. Blogs. Referrals. Billing. Making calls. Responding to help requests. High touch means high regard (and deeper relationships).

So give it a try: release your inner Fred or Ginger.

Are You Just Clucking?

There is an old farm expression: “I can hear you clucking but I can't find your nest”.

The 2010 version: There is a whole lot of clucking going on instead of real, move-the-needle conversations. Social media seems to goad us into speaking when we have nothing—really—to say. Beware of three cardinal sins:

Shameless self-promotion. You have information that will help clients and prospects solve problems. That is NOT shameless self-promotion. We veer into shameless territory when we lose sight of how the reader will benefit. Give them wisdom or make them think—or laugh—but don’t bore them with your irrelevant minutiae (give foursquare the boot.)

Ignoring publishing standards. Self-publishing is a great invention, but not if you don’t hire yourself a rock-solid editor to save you from yourself. Editorial gaffes scream amateur. And your blog or newsletters? Typos demonstrate that you don’t pay attention to detail, or worse: that you don’t care about the quality of your work.

Incivility. Snarky can be lucrative (Bill Maher anyone?) but it’s a niche suitable for very few. Engaging in spirited—but respectful—conversations forges new relationships and creates break-through ideas. Your mother was right—manners matter.

So go ahead: promote, write, push the envelope. Just don’t be clucking with the other chickens.

Boost Your Presence

Presence. That indefinable but immediately recognizable quality that compels you to pay attention.

It’s not about being loud or self-centered, but about quiet confidence. Clarity. And knowing your value without having to convince everyone you meet.

Increasing your presence is actually easier than it sounds. Master these simple habits to boost your presence:

Speak thoughtfully. Instead of--live or online--jumping into every conversation with your point of view, choose wisely. “A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks”. Being thoughtful is good, perhaps more so with so many channels now surrounding us with noise.

Engage. When you do speak, make your primary goal to understand the other person. Even if they never ask you a question, they will remember you as “that brilliant conversationalist”. That’s how rare and valuable it is to have someone listen to and understand us.

Align your outside with your inside. Quiet, studious, technical professional? Wear sober, great-fitting clothes (no wrinkles, spills or tatters) appropriate to your industry. Add one unusual detail as your signature. An eye-catching pair of glasses. The perfect pair of statement shoes. A bold pocket square. Just be sure it truly fits you.

Boost your presence, boost your impact, boost your audience.

Your Edge: Not Always What You Think

Your edge. It’s what the marketplace values most about you (and your firm). It’s why clients hire you and your tribe refers you. Are you clear on yours?

A lot of professionals assume their expertise is their calling card. You are an amazing corporate bankruptcy attorney. The expert on executive compensation. The wizard of SAP implementations.

You may indeed be a genius in your field, but few clients refer you solely on your expertise. One notable exception: when they need a “bet the company” solution and personality becomes secondary to immediate, tangible results. Or, you’re a brain surgeon.

So unless you're in that rarified territory, your edge is not your expertise. It's just the price of admission.

Your real edge is how you do what you do. Not your methodology but your humanology. Are you genuine? Do you really care about the results you’re creating? Are you likable (but not a sycophant)? Do you use humor effectively? Do you get clients the answers they need and help them feel good about working with you? Even when—especially when—you’re doing tough, game-changing work?

What's your edge?

Making Your Star Turn Work

Most of us in the advisory professions get our moment(s) in the spotlight at some point. Whether it’s because you’re leaving to try your chances with another team or you’re announcing a bold new adventure—you want to make sure your real message gets through.

Need some reminders for your star turn? America’s latest PR-spectacle—this time in sports—has given us a few.

Deliver the bad news—I don’t want to stay in Cleveland, come to New York, etc—personally. They’ll still hate your decision (maybe even you), but you’ll know you did your best to honor your relationships and your past work.

Praise in public, critique in private. Now is not the time to diss the losers publicly. Nerves are raw. Yes, you can let off steam with a few friends—that’s what they’re for after all. But with bloggers listening and cameras rolling? Not so much.

Keep great advisors, but ditch the entourage. Great advisors give solid advice that you can act on. An entourage tells you what you want to hear. They convince you to refer to yourself in the 3rd person. Before you know it, your true, irreplaceable audience starts to slip away.

At the end of the day, we all make decisions that are right for us—taking some slings and arrows comes with the territory. When it’s your star turn, HOW you deliver the news speaks volumes.

What Fuels You?

Life—and work—runs better with high octane fuel. The inevitable bumps in the road—frustrations with clients, partners and situations—are smoother when you’re burning the high octane stuff.

Need a better fuel source? Generate your own supply by connecting the deep purpose in your work with what you do every day. It goes beyond revenue and productivity goals. Dig deep to what really matters most to you as you build your business. Consider 3 success stories:

Dad with a mission: A consultant and new dad is exquisitely clear on his motivation—building a bigger, better life for his family. It gets him through some long days and reminds him to take time out to play, laugh and connect.

Career-changer: An advisor spends her career helping others transition to new work—and loses her job to the economy. She uses the fuel she generates from creating “ah ha” moments for clients to start and sustain her own firm.

Social entrepreneur: A consultant contemplates her values and starts a company to protect children. Drop-kicking industry expectations, she creates an integrated work and home life that feeds her to do more.

What fuels you?