Reinvention Specialist

Why is that when we get what we want it can feel like a hollow victory? Maybe it’s because we didn’t really need it after all.
 
A few weeks ago I made a list of what I needed and what I wanted in my life. This was soul-searching work. For so long I had operated from a place of want. I bought things because I wanted them. I had that extra glass of wine because I wanted it. I chose partners and projects because I wanted to be wanted. My wants were primal and fleeting.
 
It was not in my nature to work from a place of need. Even admitting that I needed anything was painful.

I have been celebrating my birthday over the past couple of weeks. I attended intimate dinners and cocktail events that I arranged in my honor in Chicago, New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles. As I made my way across the country, each night I would walk into a room filled with people I love. In turn, the next day I came to my meetings happily in service.
 
Injecting more love into your life is essential to your success. That’s because closing deals and building relationships is no longer about selling, it’s about serving. We serve others when we bring love into the room – when we compassionately listen to their challenges and provide tailor-made solutions. This naturally happens when you leave your problems and ego at the door and operate with principled intention.

I’m feeling like the word “marketing” should be retired. I know this may sound like blasphemy to many of you, but what I see driving success in large corporations and in small businesses is not traditional marketing, it’s culture. That’s because quality and customer service are no longer differentiators, it’s expected. Innovation is what creates a sustainable competitive advantage.

At the beginning of December, my 13-year-old daughter told me that she wanted to switch to a private prep school after Winter Break. The alternative school she was attending was no longer challenging her and she wanted more structure – a place where she could feel a sense of accomplishment.
 
After a few days at her new school, she told me how happy she was and that she felt that it was the perfect fit. I asked her about friends. She told me that she found some great girls to hang out with and that they were not in the “popular group.”

The week before Christmas I had a big workday planned in Los Angeles with clients at Sony Pictures Television and FOX. Rather than fly in the night before and miss dinner with my daughter, I decided to take the 7:30am flight out of Albuquerque.
 
I got up at 3:30am, did my make-up and hair and slipped on a dark grey sleeveless Jackie-O style dress, a pair of Trina Turk high black boots and a leopard print trench. I was dressed for a winter’s day in LA, not Santa Fe where it was freezing cold with snow and ice on the ground.

Last week during my monthly touch-up, my hairstylist announced that he was going back to school. George was excited about transferring his talent for making people beautiful into a new career as a plastic surgeon. His plan is to work his way through school over the next seven years. I was completely inspired by George’s focused determination to reinvent himself, and I knew that he wasn’t alone. Frustrated by dead end careers, a lack of job prospects and the need to enhance skill sets or be left in the dust, adults are going back to school in droves.

Demonstrate authentic leadership by giving back. It’s instant karma.
 
I know it seems counter-intuitive, but if you’re feeling paralyzed by uncertainty and doubt, my best advice is to resist isolating and get out into your community. If you’re stuck in neutral and you need a new job, then get out of your own way and give back.

You’ll find that running a marathon to help find a cure for cancer, volunteering at a local museum, lecturing at a college or industry event, advocating for a worthy cause or mentoring young people will make you look like a leader, someone who has dimension.

None of us have a crystal ball that can predict all the chaos that can happen in any given day. In fact, trying to foresee or control the future is pointless. With technology advancing every minute, buying habits changing on a dime, and employers continuing to operate from fear, things have never been more uncertain or the challenges so great.

 Where we fall short as business leaders is in looking for someone to blame when we feel overwhelmed or undermined by the changes – rather than letting go and surrendering to what’s happening – managing the chaos one step at a time with grace, and with faith.

I’m off to New York this week to land a major piece of business, meet with my agent to deliver my latest book and give a speech to career professionals. I’m completely prepared to “wow” everyone I’m seeing with the content I’ve created, but without looking the part of “World-Class Brand Strategist,” no one will listen to a word I say.

When I tell people that I write a weekly blog, have several training programs completed, a series of keynote speeches ready to give, and four books under my belt, they inevitably say, “That’s amazing, how do you do it all?” I say, “I give myself block time.”