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Authentic Conversations About Difference Authentic Leadership

Is Fear Changing the Way You Do Business?

Are your fears and insecurities holding you back in business? Do you find yourself playing small and waiting for external validation before you can make your next move? If you are waiting for some sign that you are doing the right thing, then you need to take a deep breath and a step back.

Your mindset has a huge impact on the long-term success of your business. For me, I keep my mindset positive and focused with a physical reminder. I wear a bracelet with a token that has the word “freedom” engraved on it. I have not taken this off since I bought it three years ago from myintent.org. Freedom is my single highest value in life and it applies to multiple areas including everything from freedom for all people from oppression to freedom for me to create the life I want to live (it’s why I’m an entrepreneur), and the topic of this blog – freedom from fear or, at times, the freedom to face fear and have the courage to push through it.

There are some freedoms you need to work to attain. For example, I have freedom from the fear of financial insecurity not just because I run two successful businesses but, also, because I have done a lot of work related to my relationship with money and staying in abundance instead of scarcity. There are some freedoms you are given. For me that includes having freedom from fear of oppression for my sexuality, skin tone and gender because I am a cisgender straight white male but not necessarily culturally as there is still anti-Semitism and I am Jewish. I have worked and continue to work on breaking through fear in all areas of my life and am committed to using my financial stability and experience to help lift up others from a place of fear because I know what it feels like to be afraid and to come through it.

About six years ago, I was on an Entrepreneurs Organization forum retreat, and one of the things we did was rappel off cliffs. There I was hundreds of feet up with my peers, and I am there despite that I am afraid of heights. Not just afraid and uneasy; heights are a real phobia for me. I was there because every few years I force myself to do something that literally terrifies me as I refuse to be held back by fear.

After, mistakenly, waiting for several of my forum-mates to go first and letting the tension and fear build to almost unbearable levels, it was my turn. The first time I leaned back off the cliff and had to trust the rope would hold me as I went down that mountain, I was absolutely terrified. Anyone who can literally lean back off a cliff and not pass out from the fear has conquered a part of themselves that was limiting them but if you do it with something you have a phobia about, well … . I have done other things to push myself outside of my comfort zone. I’ve done ropes courses, zip lines and even jumped out of a perfectly good plane skydiving. I have even climbed a couple of hundred feet to a tiny platform and bungee jumped. Why do I keep putting myself in a position where I am frightened? Because I want to do something that breaks through those feelings of fear and then be able to call upon that in other parts of my life.

When I say break through the fear, I want you to understand that I’m still always afraid. The act of taking on my fear with a physical test, and then conquering that physical test, shows me that I can trust myself to not let my fear hold me back.

You may have fears around shifting the way you work being out of the office more, trusting others, delegating more, or of your own failure or success.. I’m going to encourage you to break through those fears. Because you can live the life you were meant to lead. I mean, I have done it, other people have done it. Why not you? There are situations in your life where you’ve had a fear of something and then you’ve done something to break through that fear and overcome it so call upon those times and apply that same courage in other parts of your life.

I use those times when I’m afraid of something in business and think back to those moments when I worked through my fears, leaning back off that cliff, leaping off that platform attached only to a bungee or jumping out of that plane. It gives me another level of confidence and not just on an intellectual level; there’s something visceral about it. If I can do those things, I can do anything.

If there’s any fear that comes up around making shifts in your business just listen, face the fear, visualize the freedom and use the experiences where you have had fears in the past and broke through them. Use the work you did on a physical challenge, for example, or other situation as the motivation to get the courage to make a change. When you do your level of success, satisfaction and happiness in business and life will increase exponentially!

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

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Authentic Leadership

8 Books to Help You Run an Authentic Business

I have found that reading is one of the best returns on your investment in the business world and it is the way that I keep myself grounded and ensures that I remain authentic in my business. When you arm yourself with the ideas and innovations of the best in their industry, you will be continuously collecting tools and ideas to keep you operating authentically and at your own highest and best use.

At Authentic Enterprises, I make it a point to attend every client meeting and every team meeting with my whole self. There are several ways I remind myself of the big ideas which influence me. My time with my forums and coaches helps me center and recalibrate my goals and realign my actions and mindset with those goals. The energy I put toward self-care keeps my lifestyle sustainable and, occasionally, I reassess if my needs have changed and adjust my focus accordingly.

There are several books which have influenced me and the way I do business. Below are 8 of my favorites (in no specific order):

  1. The Birth of a Brand by Brian Smith, UGG Founder
    Brian is a talented businessman and his book explains his journey from accountant to founding the internationally known and loved UGG. He gives generously of his time and talent in The Birth of a Brand and gives a look behind the curtain at what makes an idea ready to launch a business.
  2. The Book of Mistakes by Skip Prichard
    Skip’s new release is an excellent example of learning from past mistakes. You will always make some of your own, but what you can learn from observing others’ mistakes will help set your business apart. The Book of Mistakes reminds you to move on from the past to focus on building your future.
  3. Master Your Cash Flow by Al Zdenek
    Al is a good friend and a financial wiz. This book gives business owners the knowledge and leverage they need to manage the company finances. Whether your business is a fledgling startup or has been running successfully for more than a decade, Al’s Master Your Cash Flow is worth a read.
  4. Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
    It’s no secret that I run both of my businesses based on Mike’s Profit First idea. The premise is to allocate a percentage of each incoming check to different parts of your business such as marketing, administrative, etc. The main idea of Profit First is to pay the owner first!
  5. The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles
    Many people are not aware of the work of Wallace Wattles but his work is one of the foundations of much of the personal growth work over the last century. Fortunately, as his books were written in the early 1900’s, they are now out of copyright and in the public domain. The title link is to a PDF of his book, The Science of Getting Rich.
  6. The Image of Leadership by Sylvie di Giustio
    Sylvie is a dear friend and fellow NSA NYC member. She is an expert on “People Packaging” as she puts it. Her book The Image of Leadership explains the ways that we project a message to the people around us without even trying. Sylvie rightly suggests making sure your projected image presents your product in the best possible light.
  7. Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk
    It is no secret that I am a big Gary V. fan. In fact, I sent a recent Tweet offering his team free negotiating advice. Most of the advice in this well-known marketing book is timeless. Gary V. has updated his messaging to clarify that the right hook can require some more nuance and planning than cleverly placed jab. If you haven’t read Jab, Jab. Right Hook yet, you are missing out!
  8. I Can See Clearly Now by Wayne Dyer
    One of Dr. Wayne Dyer’s most wide-read books, each of his books are best sellers. In I Can See Clearly Now, he uses his memoir to share the truth and wisdom he amassed over decades of studying manifestation. For me, Wayne Dyer was a master teaching people how to connect to source and manifest in their lives from that place. He wrote countless books and gave many talks including several for PBS fund drives that are available without cost. Check out his work at www.drwaynedyer.com.

I hope you celebrate National Book Lovers Day with your fellow book lovers. I would like to know what you are reading and which books are inspiring you in your own business. Comment below or tag me on Twitter @coreykupfer.

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

Categories
Authentic Conversations About Difference Authentic Leadership

How to Keep Your Business Going During a Family Emergency

In the month of April, I had the opportunity to travel quite a bit for work and for pleasure. If you have been reading my articles for long, you know that I am a big advocate of living an integrated life. As a business owner, I have a certain level of control in the day-to-day work that I do, but it is not always easy.

The best laid plans can fall away when a family emergency rises to the top of the list of priorities. The day I returned from a business mastermind trip in Europe, I learned my mother had fallen ill with abdominal issues. As I was back in town, I was able to support my mother in-person, take her to the hospital and spend much of last week with her.

As I write this, I am on Day 8 of being there to provide encouragement to my mother as the doctors try to figure out how best to help her. With my attention on her, it is a relief to know that my business – which is fortunately extremely busy right now – is carrying on without my having to monitor every aspect.

How can your business keep going during a family emergency? It actually came together for me while I was watching the way the hospital operates and being thankful that my business operates much more efficiently and effectively, especially when it comes to client service and satisfaction. (You can watch my video about the connection I drew between business and the hospital operations on LinkedIn or Facebook.)

The key elements your business needs to keep running:

  • Build and empower a great team and then trust them.
  • Systematize your processes.
  • Communicate regularly and transparently with clients, industry partners and other key people.
    Implement and effectively use mobile technology.

You need to have many of these things in place before a family or other emergency comes up. How does your company stack up? Are you ready in case of emergency? If not, take heart and know that you can start to take the necessary steps to improve from where you are starting today.

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

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Authentic Conversations About Difference Authentic Leadership

You’re Approaching Your Business Relationships Wrong

What’s holding you back from making the most of your network?

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

-Maya Angelou

You probably read that quote and thought, Surely, a poet like Maya Angelou wasn’t talking about business relationships. You’d be right. She almost certainly wasn’t. Yet, I think within that thinking is the fundamental issue at the core of how we approach our business relationships. For whatever reason, we give ourselves permission to treat these relationships differently. We try to be different people to our business contacts than in our day-to-day lives; we compartmentalize them, and we have maladjusted expectations of ourselves and our counterparts in these relationships. All that adds up to an inauthentic relationship. Considering our business relationships have the power to shape our career and our long-term success and, thus, shape our lives, this is an issue that needs some focused attention.

I’ve written about how we can build better business relationships before. The subject is one of great importance to me. But sometimes we need to identify what we’re doing wrong before we can correctly implement the best practices I advise. So, what are you getting wrong?

You Botch the First Impression.

Our society puts a ton of weight into the first impression. For good reason, I think. In a world of gray areas, first impressions are refreshingly binary. If you’re not making a good first impression, you’ve made a bad one. Like Angelou said, when someone shows you who they are, we believe them the first time. But, that begs the questions, did you take care to show that person who you really are? In these pressure-packed first moments we go crazy trying to impress the person in front of us. Insincere charm, flashy spending, or even an old foe – mirroring, will all more than likely come off as fake and contrived to the person you’re trying to impress. And just like that, you’ve botched the first impression. The far better option is to be your authentic self. Show that person who you really are. Chances are good they’ll be impressed by your confidence and candor. Embracing authenticity is how we really make a good first impression.

You’re Compartmentalizing.

This is a symptom of “work-life balance” thinking. The idea is that our business should rightly remain separate from our personal lives if we’re to find fulfillment in both. To me, that’s a scarcity mindset that suggests one siphons positivity from the other and vice-versa. Now, imagine approaching your business relationships with this in mind. How could you even begin to give this relationship everything it needs to succeed? With this mindset, you can’t. That’s why I’m an advocate for work-life integration. I became an entrepreneur so that my work could fit into the life I wanted to lead. The same goes for the relationships we want to have. If we feel a push and pull between our personal relationships and our business relationships it means we’re keeping both at arm’s length. With an integrated approach, our business relationships become normal parts of our lives, like anything else. We can then enter into them fully and authentically.

You’re Engaging in Transactional Thinking.

This is our biggest downfall when it comes to how we build business relationships. Increasingly, we seem to have forgotten the simple virtue of being decent for the sake of being decent. There’s a line of thinking that questions the value of any relationship that doesn’t pay material dividends immediately or in the very near future. That’s a toxic mindset. Any authentic relationship must be built on complete trust. If you’re only giving this contact your time and attention because you want something from them, you’re creating a zero-sum context—if I don’t get what I want out of this relationship, this person has won, and I have lost. That’s fear, that’s ego, and that’s transactional thinking in the most cynical way possible. Instead, I always advise giving first, and then handing the relationship over to trust. Trust that you’re acting not out of expectation or selfishness, but because it’s good to give and to be of value to this person. Trust that the energy your actions put into the universe will come back to you and, eventually, the relationship will give you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it.

We can get granular about the things we get wrong—the way we choose to speak, appearing aloof and disinterested, more concerned with our phones than the person in front of us, being anxious and neurotic—but, they are all, in some way or another, the result of one of the three business relationship pitfalls discussed above. If you want to learn more about how you can avoid these blunders and build better, authentic business relationships, check out my video: Building Authentic Business Relationships.

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

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Authentic Business Relationships Authentic Conversations About Difference Authentic Leadership

Mentorship: Exploring the Reverse Mentor Concept

What we can learn from changing the status quo

I’ve really enjoyed this series on mentorship. You might have noticed that in general, I prefer serial writing. It’s because while I love sharing my thoughts and insights, the exercise also gives me some clarity and room to deepen the discussion. One thing that’s become clear to me in the ongoing discussion about mentorship is that regardless of which role you assume, it’s fundamentally about learning. Mentors learn more about their past experiences when they impart the wisdom they’ve gathered over the years. Mentees learn how they can grow and improve in the most well-directed ways.

It led me to the question: When do we stop trying to grow and improve like a mentee? Your answer should be “never.” Yet, when we think about mentorship, it feels natural that we age out of the mentee mindset, that after an arbitrary level of experience, or an even more arbitrarily decided age, we transition from mentee to mentor full time.

While I fully support anyone assuming the role of mentor, we shouldn’t let inauthentic qualifiers like age or experience exclude us from learning and growing like a mentee. I was reading a piece by Marcel Schwantes about 6 Traits Smart People Have in Common when his advice on reverse mentors crystallized this notion for me.

The reality is, the world is changing faster now than ever before. Trends change weekly, the conversations we’re having change daily, and the skills and expertise we need to succeed are constantly evolving with the pace of technology and innovation. Fooling yourself into thinking that you can keep up with all of this on your own is a mark of ego.

Yet, there’s a generation who have grown up with this pace of change, who can transition their skills seamlessly with technology, and who speak the language of change better than more experienced generations can. It’s here that embracing a reverse mentor can make a big difference for you.

Navigating the unfamiliar dynamics of the reverse mentor relationship is certainly a challenge, but learning from a “Millennial” is in your best interest. Let’s talk about what the best reverse mentor relationships have in common.

In this context, you’re peers. The expectation of mutual respect should sustain no matter what, but approaching reverse mentorship wearing your “boss” hat is a mistake. Be humble and approach the relationship as a peer. You shouldn’t fear that it will detract from your role as a leader. Rather, seeking a reverse mentor will signal to your team how much you value learning and will set a great example. Additionally, if you do some pre-planning, you can confirm with your reverse mentor the exact dynamics of the relationship and keep your leadership intact while creating a healthy space for learning.

Accept that you don’t know what you don’t know. We stay as updated as we can, but if we think we know everything, what’s the point? It’s very likely that there are developments and technologies that we don’t even know we need to be aware of. A major part of what we can learn from a reverse mentor is emerging trends and how to track them. It’s critical that as leaders we remain aware, relevant and in tune to trends as they are emerging. A reverse mentor can position you for accelerated success when it comes to leveraging new technology, important demographic and market shifts and generational differences.

Understand it’s more than mechanical. Sure, there’s a lot to be gained from becoming more technologically savvy, but as millennials gain buying power and influence in the market, plugging into a more youthful perspective is important. Your worldview is likely very different than a Millennial’s, and appealing only to those people with a similar mindset to yours is a losing proposition. Gleaning a youthful perspective and opening yourself up to a dramatically different worldview will help you think about problems more effectively and devise more pointed solutions.

Mentorship has resulted in some of the most meaningful and impactful relationships in my life. I speak from experience when I say it’s a truly rewarding endeavor, but only with the right approach. I hope this discussion of reverse mentorship helps you abandon your misconceptions of what mentorship can be and how it has to look. We should always work to avoid limiting our learning opportunities. On that note, if you haven’t already, check out some of the mentors who shaped my life and career: https://www.coreykupfer.com/resources/

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

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Authentic Business Relationships Authentic Conversations About Difference Authentic Leadership

Mentorship: How to be the Best Mentee

You get out what you put in

As discussed last week, a mentor with the right approach is necessary for constructive and productive mentorship. Yet, even more responsibility falls on the mentee. The fact is, many mentees approach mentorship for the wrong reasons. Their motivations are often selfish and inauthentic. To many mentees, mentorship is just about playing the game and climbing the ladder.

I will tell you right now, anyone who approaches the relationship with that motivation and that inauthentic attitude won’t just fail at being a mentee but will struggle to truly succeed in their life. The goal should always be personal improvement, learning, and a genuine desire to become the best worker and person possible. That’s a context which can make mentorship a transformative exercise and lead to true success.

Aside from entering the relationship with the right context, what else can mentees do to get the most of their time with a mentor?

Fully commit to the relationship. Even with the best intentions, if you’re not all-in as a mentee, you’re not going to get out of the relationship everything you might expect. It can’t be a matter of convenience for you. If your mentor gives you an assignment or challenge, don’t put it on your backburner. Make it a priority. There’s a reason they’ve asked you to do it, and if you only accept the work you’re comfortable with, growth will remain unattainable.

Be authentic. Don’t be who you think your mentor wants you to be or who you think you need to be. Be who you are and approach the relationship with complete honesty. If you’re not your true self, how can you expect your mentor to give advice that can really have an impact? It’s only when you show your mentor who you truly are that they can help you become the person you want to be.

Have clarity. It’s not the responsibility of your mentor to define what you want to gain from their mentorship. Before you enter into the relationship as a mentee, it’s imperative that you get clear on exactly how you want to develop personally and professionally. Showing up under the delusion that you’re a blank slate is totally unproductive. Audit yourself. Creating a detailed inventory of your strengths and weaknesses, situations that have caused you problems in the past, areas in which you excel. Starting off the relationship with this kind of information to build upon will make your mentor’s advice more poignant and effective. It sets you both up for success.

Give first. What have you done to prove to your mentor that you’re worth their time and attention? Simply asking someone to be your mentor isn’t enough, and it’s never how the best mentorships start. Do work that your mentor values and needs, and do it well. Giving your best effort and working hard to earn their respect is the best way to endear yourself to a potential mentor and lay the groundwork for a rewarding relationship. Ultimately, they are staking their reputation on mentoring you, because at some point in the relationship, they will be asked to sponsor you. Before you reach anything close to that point, your mentor needs to be well assured that you will represent them well.

Check your ego. Bringing your ego into mentorship is a guaranteed failure. Growth is wrought with challenges and failures. If your ego is engaged, you’re sure to be defeated by the bumps and valleys on your journey. If, however, you’re able to check your ego and approach mentorship with humility, from a context of learning, everything becomes an opportunity for development, rather than scarcity viewed through scarcity lenses like failure or setback. A primary function of your mentor will be to offer criticism and feedback, especially during the most critical and challenging times. To receive their feedback properly and apply it to your life and work in the most positive ways, your ego needs to be fully disengaged.

Mentorship has resulted in some of the most meaningful and impactful relationships in my life. I speak from experience when I say it’s a truly rewarding endeavor, but only with the right approach. Now that we’ve discussed the best of both roles—mentor and mentee—I’d love to dive into a concept I read about recently, the Reverse Mentor. In the meantime, check out some of the mentors who shaped my life and career: https://www.coreykupfer.com/resources/

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

Categories
Authentic Business Relationships Authentic Conversations About Difference Authentic Leadership

Mentorship: Being a Great Mentor

A mentor is more than just a font of wisdom.

My first and greatest mentor was my father. His wisdom is something I carry with me always. “Make yourself as indispensable as possible to your boss, but remember nobody is indispensable,” is career advice he gave me that I will never forget. “Every morning when I think about life with your mother or without your mother, I choose your mother,” he told me of marriage. And on his deathbed, he said to me, “I traveled to 25 countries, have a great family and have done the things I wanted to do. I have no regrets. When you are in my situation, you don’t want to have any regrets,” which was when I realized that he’d won the game of life, and when I learned for certain how I wanted to live.

I’m grateful for the time I got to spend with my father and the relationship he and I shared. I know not all sons are so fortunate. The mentorship I received from my father taught me not just about life, but also about the value of having a mentor.

Being on both sides of mentorship has shaped my career, so I know that these kinds of relationships are very different than one might have with a father, friend, or colleague. There’s a different kind of work involved. Over the years, I’ve learned a few things about what makes a good mentor, both from mentors of my own and being one myself in a professional setting. If you’re interested in mentorship, here’s what I think makes a good mentor:

Setting boundaries is key. In a professional context, maintaining roles and status in the mentor-mentee relationship matters. It might seem superficial, but for both of you to get the most out of the relationship it’s important that you set boundaries. Your mentee needs to know that time is valuable, so they shouldn’t waste it with trivial concerns or problems they should be able to solve on their own. Furthermore, there should be clarity about what the two of you discuss. Setting these sorts of boundaries is necessary to remove noise from the relationship and ensure that things are always pointed in the right direction.

Don’t be afraid to challenge your mentee.

The relationship is ultimately about growth. If you’re tracking their progress and feel like they are ready, challenge your mentee. Not arbitrarily. Give them meaningful work that stretches what they think their abilities are. We learn the most when someone sees greatness in ourselves that we don’t yet see.. As a mentor, you can both push your mentee outside their comfort zone but also be there when the assignment is over to teach and offer feedback.

Seek understanding. For mentorship to really work, it has to be a two-way street. Many people approach mentorship with the idea that they are just a conduit for wisdom and lived experience. They pontificate, thinking that imparting their knowledge is the whole of the mentor’s duty. What their all-fortunate mentee does with the information is irrelevant. That’s never going to be true. A mentor needs to be sincerely interested in the career and development of their mentee. Seeking understanding is a strong way to display this commitment. When your mentee approaches you with a problem, don’t just launch into canned solutions you think they need to hear. Instead, seek understanding of what it is they’re going through and why they are experiencing this problem. There is almost always an underlying circumstance that can more deeply inform the advice you offer.

Be an advocate for them. Let’s be clear about the endgame of a professional mentorship: to help your mentee develop and advance in their career. That’s why getting it right in your role as mentor is so important. Eventually, there will come a time when you are asked to advocate for them. If your tutelage was well received, there should be no hesitation—you should be thrilled to be a zealous advocate for your mentee, whether they are seeking a promotion, pursuing a new role at a different firm or company or pitching that big client or investor as an entrepreneur. Your endorsement will matter more than nearly anyone else’s. Be willing to use your reputation and influence on their behalf if they deserve it.

Mentorship has resulted in some of the most meaningful and impactful relationships in my life. I speak from experience when I say it’s a truly rewarding endeavor, but only with the right approach. This week we covered how to be the best mentor. Next week’s blog will discuss how mentees can best approach mentorship. In the meantime, check out some of the mentors who shaped my life and career: https://www.coreykupfer.com/resources/

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

Categories
Authentic Business Relationships Authentic Leadership

The Right (and Wrong) Way to Solicit on LinkedIn

I recently posted a simple question – and brief explanation – about how people handle LinkedIn connections who immediately solicit you. I must have touched a nerve, because it went a bit viral. You can check out the post here.

As you can see, it seems like I’ve happened upon something we all feel, something universal – we hate being sold to blindly. None of us like getting an immediate solicitation from a new LinkedIn connection. What’s more, the consensus in my comments was that such behavior was grounds for an immediate disconnection.

If that seems drastic, let’s take a look at an example of a bad solicitation I received recently:

This user’s name and other identifying information has been changed. Text, including the user’s typos, has remained unchanged.

Happy New Year Corey! I’m expand my network by connecting with other colleagues from LinkedIn Connection University. – Dr. Bad Solicitation

Mon Corey Kupfer sent the following message at 8:46 PM

Dr. Bad Solicitation, thank you for your connection request. I do not believe we know each other (please correct me if I am wrong). For me to consider connecting with someone I don’t know, I need to understand why you want to be connected with me and what triggered the request. Thanks, Corey

Dr. Bad Solicitation sent the following message at 8:49 PM

Corey Thank you for your email. Your bio precedes you. If you have or know of anyone 9 business or personal contacts ) who are in need of commercial or residential properties located in Florinecticut as per a Good Investment, feel free and confident to have them reach out to me. Thank you

Urgh! Dr. Bad Solicitation lives up to his fake name, right? There’s so much wrong with this approach. This connection didn’t even answer my reasonable request about why he chose to connect with me. Instead, he issued an inauthentic compliment about my bio and leapt immediately into his sales pitch. For Dr. Bad Solicitation, this is purely transactional. I don’t approach my business relationships that way. Disconnect.

So, what should Dr. Bad Solicitation have done differently? Let’s examine another connection I received recently. It also came with a solicitation, but the approach here is so much better. Here’s how Ben Value-Add approached me:

This user’s name and other identifying information has been changed.

Hi Corey,

I see we have some mutual connections.

I am always looking to grow my network of professionals here on LinkedIn. If you are open to that please accept.

Warmly,

Ben.

9:29 AM

Ben Value-Add is now a connection

Mon Ben Value-Add sent the following message at 6:59 AM

It’s an honor to Connect!

I hope everything is well with you in your personal and professional life!

Here’s a document I pass out to all my new connections. It’s a summary of the growth strategies we use for our clients and ourselves. No strings attached. No opt-in. No cost 🙂

[There was a hyperlink to a .pdf here]

Here’s what we do at MyCompany:

He included a short, clear and strong mission statement here.

If you or someone you know has a bodacious dream and needs someone to capture that on film and let the world know about it – I’d love to talk!!

With thanks,

Ben Value-Add

555-555-5555

Did you catch what Ben did there? Yes, this is still a pretty immediate solicitation, but Ben’s approach gets several things right. First, he’s not forcing the issue. He opens the request explaining that we have mutual connections, and then clearly explains his primary motivation for connecting – always growing his network. He closes the message by actually asking me to connect. It’s polite, professional, and respectful of boundaries.

Ben was off to a great start, but a bad solicitation—something baldly transactional—can squash that good will in an instant. Ben didn’t go there. Instead, Ben chose to give first. He asked nothing of me. He gave me a document that was, I must say, legitimately useful and filled with content that interested me. And, he made it clear that at no point would there be expectations of me doing business with him.

Now, I’m not considering using a service like Ben’s at this particular moment. However, I’m sure the time will come, and I won’t forget this interaction and Ben’s choice to give first. He clearly understands the value of building authentic business relationships. That kind of alignment shows me that he and I would, likely, work well together.

A transactional and exploitative approach, on the other hand, is a sure failure. It cheapens business relationships down to the simplest compliment. Look back at Dr. Bad Solicitation’s compliment. “Your bio precedes you,” seems so hollow and exploitative in the context created by his shallow solicitation. This is not how authentic business relationships are formed, and it’s a habit more of us need to break.

For an expanded take on how to build authentic business relationships, check out my blog or my video on the topic.

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

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Authentic Leadership

Why You Should Create a Vision for the New Year

Get rid of the resolutions and think bigger.

You know the routine: make resolutions, break resolutions. Then we beat ourselves up over our inability to change, and by the time we’re done wallowing it’s June and none of our goals for the new year are on track. We settle on the thought that next year will be our year though… Now that we are a month into 2018 are you already on that path to New Years’ resolution failure?

We have all heard that insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” While I hate clichés, and this definition of insanity – which has been attributed to Einstein most often – has certainly become a cliché, to me, this is what making New Year’s resolutions has been reduced to.

I used to get caught up in that same performative cycle. Pledging to get better and improve year-over-year is well intentioned, but resolutions have become more societal expectation than personal promise that we are going to keep. This annual universal approach to self-improvement is just one more flawed system in a world of flawed systems, but it’s one with what I think has an easy fix.

Instead of rehashing a list of things you want to accomplish, create a vision for your life in what remains of this new year. Think about it, what’s is likely to be more successful? I am going to lose 30 pounds and journal every day (likely, coming from a context of I need to do that because I feel fat and have failed to do it for the last X number of year), or make healthier decisions and allow time for reflective thought (coming from an empowering context for your life like being healthy for your kids as they grow or having the energy and stamina to have the big impact you know you are meant to have in the world)?

If you still need some convincing, let’s talk about some more reasons why you should make visioning a priority in 2018.

Resolutions are inauthentic. Do we really put that much thought into our resolutions? If your answer is anything other than no, I’d love to hear more from you in the comments. Truthfully, the majority of us choose from something of a socially agreeable stock list of improvement items and choose the three or four we deem most desirable or attainable or that we feel we need to change because we are so unhappy with ourselves in that area. We feel no positive connection to them and, in fact, the ones most often listed are the ones we feel most bad about. Visioning, conversely, demands authenticity. It requires us to think deeply about how we want our lives to look. A vision requires clarity. A well-crafted vision asks us to access our truth and formulate priorities around what we value. It also has us be able to see ourselves already successful as opposed to coming from a place of reaction and need to get somewhere. This is a much more powerful context than resolutions provide.

Guiding principles are more powerful than obligations. I was listening to a podcast recently, and the guest said something that got me thinking: “If it’s on the calendar, I don’t want to do it.” I don’t agree with it entirely, but it’s revealing of how we approach perceived—and actual—obligations. Without being part of a larger empowering vision, they bog us down, always looming, always pulling us in directions that we might not otherwise choose to go. On the other hand, a vision, rooted in clarity, that’s aligned with our highest aims is something that we can aspire to. It provides direction and keeps us more oriented towards improvement than checking items off a list that we might never complete. The action steps we then commit to take to fulfill that vision do not come with the energy of obligation but, instead, excitement and choice.

A vision is less likely to fail. We want to succeed. I don’t doubt that we all set out to fulfill all of our typical resolutions, but what start out as goals too easily become these tortured pressure points that set us up for failure. A vision is less specific, but sets a more powerful context for how we live our lives. It’s not a question of success or failure, but how well we are realizing our vision. Failure leads to discouragement, which leads to us abandoning our resolutions entirely. A vision is about establishing a standard to which we can hold ourselves. If we reflect and determine we’re not where we want to be, that’s okay. We know exactly where we want to go because we’ve articulated a clear vision and in identifying that gap, the necessary action steps become clear. A vision moves the framework from a polarizing question of success or failure to an empowering notion of constant improvement. It pulls you into a future you have created for yourself as opposed to you being pushed by your past failure, self-judgment and societal expectations.

My vision for 2018 is clear and I reconnect to it regularly. How are you doing so far in 2018? What is your vision for the rest of this year? If you have not already done, I strongly encourage you to set aside some time for a visioning session and getting clear on what you really want and how you want your life to look. The impact on all aspects of your life can be more profound than any resolution.

Ultimately, a positive vision for your life is rooted in being able to clearly articulate your objectives from a constructive context rather than reacting to negativity and trying to course correct. Sometimes, to realize that vision, all we need is a fresh perspective. If you’re ready to ditch the resolutions and create an uplifting vision of your life and future, check out my recent video on the topic: Instead of Making Resolutions, Be a Visionary

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!