NEW: SELF-ESTEEM WORKSHOP
December 2-3
www.summitconsulting.com/self_esteem_workshop.html

The intent is simple. Building on my work with individuals around the globe, I want to help you: Identify the uncertainties, perceived vulnerabilities, and situations which cause you to perform at less than your optimal capacity; understand the causes of those dynamics, and receive timely yet non-threatening feedback about how to resolve them; master and apply techniques that will help you maintain and manifest a high self-esteem level “in the moment” when it is most needed; avoid the debris and detritus in your life which tend to damage self-esteem, and focus on the routes of least resistance to self-worth and its manifestation. In brief, personally and professionally, you will be able to deal with daily routine and exceptional circumstances; with varied and often tough personalities in your life; and to overcome the problems caused by pressure, unfamiliarity, and perceived threat.

Accompanying photos show enthralled people just anticipating this workshop.

My friends, one of the fundamental problems with planning is that the world has a different idea about how things are going to happen. Your assumptions, visualizations, projections, forecasts, and suppositions turn out to be wrong.

Get over it.

If the world always complied with your expectations, this would be a highly predictable, vanilla, and boring place. People don’t respond as expected, the environment undergoes radical change, group dynamics reverse course, your supporters really aren’t, you get rained out. Stuff happens.

I’m bemused by people who claim “genius” for themselves when they’ve had the good fortune to profit from a few lucky “hits” with clients who, in turn, recommended them elsewhere. Or those who are mediocre but are elevated by a strong, rising economic tide.

But when things go south, where are they? If they haven’t marketed themselves and don’t know how, where is that “genius” now? If tougher times decrease demand and only the top talent is pursued, where is the “genius” then?

We should all hope for the best but prepare for the worst. True talent is able to excel in all economies, in a multitude of environments, and with a great diversity of people. It’s not hard to sell hot dogs on the route of the great parade, but the real question is how many you can sell during the other 364 days of the year. It’s nice to find a $100 bill on the sidewalk, but I wouldn’t advise that method as a daily pursuit to feed the family.

By all means, make assumptions about the future and act upon them. But also be prepared to anticipate and handle deviations from the path. You may have an uncanny view of what the future holds.

But the world doesn’t always comply.

© Alan Weiss 2008. All rights reserved.

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Your members can buy the Fees and Pricing Benchmark Report: Consulting Industry 2008 through your affiliate link at 20% off. The general public can buy the report at full price by visiting this link: www.raintoday.com/feesandpricingmarketing.cfm.
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(This research report demonstrates the power of value based fees over hourly or per diem bulling, and shows the much greater wealth created for consultants who decide NOT to remain in prehistoric times. And that’s not even considering the great ethical conflict with hourly rates. This is an informational announcement, I have no financial interest in this product or in RainToday.)

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I met a woman at a fund raiser the other day, and she seemed quite impressive. She was well dressed, well spoken, had written a book, and knew some heavy hitters.

Then, when she explained why she was setting up a small office in another state where she spends some time, she said, “You know how expensive gas is to make that drive frequently.”

Whoops.

I still think she’s a very impressive woman, and I’d probably want to get to know her better. But that kind of statement tends to relegate you to second-class status. Successful people I know don’t bemoan gas prices, or complain about dining out, or express concern about taxes.

Someone mentioned to me during a recent practicum I conducted using a major business as our “laboratory”: “It was amazing. You introduced us as world class consultants and that’s how we were treated and heeded.”

Nothing amazing about it. It’s not just “dress for success,” it’s about behaving as though you ARE a success. Many people never give themselves that permission. When someone complains to me about Southwest Air and asks my opinion, I simply tell them that I wouldn’t know, since I don’t fly airlines without a first class cabin. If I’m asked about the price of gas, I remind people that the Europeans have been paying far higher prices for as long as I’ve been alive.

Successful people like to be around successful people, and your actions actually speak louder than your clothing and accessories. It costs virtually nothing to act successful. But you have to give yourself permission.

You may not have flown first class, and that’s fine. But when you start to brag that you saved $200 by checking fares at midnight, that’s not. You may prefer to travel in coach, and I can live with that. But if you tell someone else that they are foolish for traveling in first class, they’ll likely just think you’re a fool.

An old Roman phrase goes: De minimis non curat praetor. (The magistrate does not consider trifles.) Stop focusing on the life you think you’d have to lead, and start focusing on the one you should be leading.

People will regard you, first and foremost, by the way you regard yourself.

© Alan Weiss 2008. All rights reserved.

There is some deep, inexorable, terrestrial alarm that awakens things around here at this time in April. The Latin “aperire” means “to open,” and that’s what’s occurring throughout my realm. (April was once the second month in the Roman calendar, but then King Pompilius added January and February and April, well, was bumped.)

Eliot called April “the cruelest month” (The Wasteland), but he was a tad of a cynic to begin with when he wasn’t dealing with cats.

As if an alarm clock sounded at a pitch only animals and plants could hear, in 24 hours this place has blossomed, bloomed, and beguiled. Thirteen goslings hatched at once, a record ten to one pair of parents (pictured here). We’ve had from one to ten baby geese at times, which is a factor of how well the parents shielded the nest and fought off raccoons, foxes, and snakes. We suspect the ten came from a strategically sound nest on an island in our pond (Maria forbids me to call it a “lake”).

Ducklings will follow. The birds are all over the feeders, and goldfinches, cardinals, and blue jays create a rainbow in the yard while avoiding the occasional hawk, who’s more intent on the squirrels. Scores of turtles have dug out of winter quarters, and they climb atop the logs and rocks in the lake, er, pond, sometimes forming crazy house-of-cards pyramids. When they are startled, the piles of turtles seem to explode into reptilian chaos. The large snapper lurks in the mud, rarely exposing himself. You can see him here, also, on one of his rare expeditions out of the water. Soon, we’ll hear the basso profundo of the frogs at night.

The evergreens have been joined by their deciduous brethren, which are filling in all the gaps and isolating our property in magnificent privacy. The tulip trees must be 60 feet tall, and I’m reminded of C. Northcote Parkinson’s observation that trees seldom die from decay or sickness or, one presumes, from sin. They die when they reach the size, weight, and duration usual for that type of tree. (The same is true of institutions and organizations.)

My gardens are planted (I’m trying watermelon this year and beets again, among peppers and carrots and radishes), the pool will open in three weeks, the lawn guys are back, and the detritus of winter has been removed.

Meanwhile, we have new generations born and being raised in the water, on land, and in the air. I didn’t hear the alarm they all did, but I’m up and ready for a new day.

© Alan Weiss 2008. All rights reserved.

April 24, 2008
For Immediate Release

Kimberlee Wilkerson Inducted Into
Million Dollar Consultant® Hall of Fame

Kimberlee Wilkerson, president of Wilkerson Consulting Group in Cedar Rapids, IA is the newest inductee into the Million Dollar Consultant® Hall of Fame, one of only ten in the world so honored.

Criteria for election include:

• Serving as an exemplar to others in the profession.
• Manifesting the highest levels of integrity, ethics, and accountability.
• Achieving significant annual revenue and profit improvement.
• Contributing intellectual capital to the consulting profession.
• Engaging in continuing, challenging, personal and professional development.
• Taking prudent risk and demonstrating resilience.

The citation includes:
“As an example to all of us in committing herself to lifelong learning and the continual creation of new ideas to help others to grow their practices and enrich their lives, engaging her clients, colleagues, and audiences with her enthusiasm, wit, and innovation.”

The award was announced at the Million Dollar Consulting College Graduate School held at the Inn at Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Naples, Florida, by Alan Weiss, Ph.D., who conducts a global mentoring program for consultants. Dr. Weiss himself holds multiple awards in the consulting and speaking professions, and is the author of 27 books, include Million Dollar Consulting.

At the presentation he noted, “These are the best of the best and I’m proud to cite Kim as my colleague and friend.” The installation included the notation of “…the distinction of being regarded by peers as one of the world leaders in consulting, as evidenced by empirical accomplishments in client results, professional contributions, and intellectual property.”

More details can be found on the Summit Consulting Group, Inc. web site: http://www.summitconsulting.com.

Further info and/or photos:
Alan Weiss, Ph.D.
401/884-2778
alan@summitconsulting.com

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It’s incredible how abysmally stupid people are in their marketing. Look at this piece of junk that came to me a few minutes ago:

Hi Alan, I wanted to update you on the status of 2008 XXXXXXX
Marketplace Resource Directory as I think it would be ideal fit for
Summit Consulting.

XXXXXXX is the fastest growing business community for corporate
executives in the world, and we’re preparing to launch our Marketplace
Resource Directory. Because of your company’s reputation, we’d like to
invite your participation as a qualified vendor. This exclusive
opportunity allows you to target thousands of top training executive
decision makers across the country, network among them, and drive more
traffic to your website to drive inquiries and more sales — all within a
single resource.

Here is an overview, XXXXXXXXXXXXX

We have limited space, so would you take a look and let me know of your
interest? Thanks, Alan.

I don’t know this guy, but the “vendor” and “training” and entire, dumb philosophy shows why you can make it as a consultant when so many others act so stupidly. Would you buy ANYTHING from someone who markets like this? Would executives use his directory to make decisions? Would they use it for anything at all other than to weight down the trash?

© Alan Weiss 2008. All rights reserved.