WEBVTT 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:19.199 Welcome back to Networking Unleashed, Building 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:22.379 Profitable Connections, the show where we explore 00:00:22.379 --> 00:00:26.679 the strategies, mindsets, and conversations that 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:30.039 drive real results in business and life through 00:00:30.039 --> 00:00:33.500 the power of connection. Today's guest is a true 00:00:33.500 --> 00:00:36.280 authority when it comes to elevating your presence 00:00:36.280 --> 00:00:39.840 in the professional world. He specializes... 00:00:40.140 --> 00:00:43.439 In helping individuals build credibility, lead 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:47.119 with confidence, and craft personal brands that 00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:50.140 don't just stand out, they lead to opportunities. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:53.619 Whether you're climbing up the corporate ladder, 00:00:53.820 --> 00:00:56.759 building a business, or just getting started 00:00:56.759 --> 00:00:59.619 in your career, the insights you'll hear today 00:00:59.619 --> 00:01:03.240 are going to give you a serious edge in how you 00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:06.510 connect and influence. So get ready to take notes 00:01:06.510 --> 00:01:09.310 because we're diving deep into what really takes 00:01:09.310 --> 00:01:13.650 it to be seen, heard, and respected in any room 00:01:13.650 --> 00:01:17.010 you walk into. I want to introduce to you today 00:01:17.010 --> 00:01:22.030 Mitchell Levy, and he is, I would say, an authority 00:01:22.030 --> 00:01:25.090 on networking. It may sound familiar to most 00:01:25.090 --> 00:01:28.829 of you because I feel that we have a synergy 00:01:28.829 --> 00:01:32.450 with this. But Mitchell, welcome to the show 00:01:32.450 --> 00:01:34.090 and tell us a little bit about your background. 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:37.680 Michael, thanks for having me. And as I'll take 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:40.859 it to the next level, it's not just for individuals, 00:01:40.939 --> 00:01:42.680 but I also spend a lot of time with corporations. 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:45.640 But back on rights, the best way to say it, I've 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:49.819 been in Silicon Valley for 38 years, happily 00:01:49.819 --> 00:01:52.819 married for 36, have a 26 -year -old I'm excited 00:01:52.819 --> 00:01:56.900 about. Now, I'm going to say this is stuff, so 00:01:56.900 --> 00:01:58.280 I'll tell you the important stuff afterwards, 00:01:58.439 --> 00:02:01.189 but this is stuff. I'm on the board of an asset 00:02:01.189 --> 00:02:04.310 firm. As a book publisher, we've published over 00:02:04.310 --> 00:02:09.650 750 books. I've written 65. Two TEDx's, one commencement 00:02:09.650 --> 00:02:14.830 speech. And the short answer is I've done many 00:02:14.830 --> 00:02:17.289 of the things in life, or actually all of my 00:02:17.289 --> 00:02:21.949 bucket list item things. And now I'm here to 00:02:21.949 --> 00:02:26.129 be of service. And what really got me to where 00:02:26.129 --> 00:02:29.909 I am now is between 2019 and 2020, I went on 00:02:29.909 --> 00:02:32.789 a Napoleon Hill journey. And that journey was 00:02:32.789 --> 00:02:35.550 to interview 500 thought leaders on what the 00:02:35.550 --> 00:02:39.990 concept of credibility is. And that helped really 00:02:39.990 --> 00:02:44.830 transform who I am and how I show up today. Very 00:02:44.830 --> 00:02:48.069 good. Like I said before, I'm super excited just 00:02:48.069 --> 00:02:51.069 to even just to speak with you. Let's start with 00:02:51.069 --> 00:02:53.349 the questions that I came up with. All right. 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:58.460 How do credibility and trust influence someone's 00:02:58.460 --> 00:03:01.960 ability to build a powerful professional network? 00:03:03.020 --> 00:03:06.240 So I will, for those who are watching, I will 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:08.639 share an image on the background as I'm speaking. 00:03:09.560 --> 00:03:12.300 Credibility is the quality in which one is trusted, 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:16.400 known, and liked. And so the most important thing, 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:20.180 and I know on your website, you do this standard 00:03:20.180 --> 00:03:22.360 one, which is where I started Know, Like, Trust. 00:03:23.210 --> 00:03:26.490 Problem is, know, like, trust was relevant when, 00:03:26.509 --> 00:03:29.810 in the old days, you'd go into a town on your 00:03:29.810 --> 00:03:32.590 horse, you'd go into the local saloon, and there 00:03:32.590 --> 00:03:34.969 are two blacksmiths, and you go to the barkeep, 00:03:35.110 --> 00:03:39.009 hey, what's the best blacksmith for me? And they 00:03:39.009 --> 00:03:40.810 go, not only are there two that you know, but 00:03:40.810 --> 00:03:42.530 there's a third over here, that person would 00:03:42.530 --> 00:03:45.150 be better. In the old days where there wasn't 00:03:45.150 --> 00:03:47.590 the internet, there wasn't AI, you didn't know 00:03:47.590 --> 00:03:50.650 who was who. Know meant I need to know where 00:03:50.650 --> 00:03:54.060 that person is or what they do. Today, what happens 00:03:54.060 --> 00:03:56.979 is you have instantaneous access to services 00:03:56.979 --> 00:04:00.280 around the world. And so the most important thing 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:02.020 that needs to happen is they need to trust you. 00:04:02.060 --> 00:04:04.680 And how does trust get developed? Technically, 00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:07.020 it is, if we think about a LinkedIn profile, 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:09.539 we think about a website, it happens in the first 00:04:09.539 --> 00:04:12.800 three to five seconds, right? So credibility 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:17.139 at first is you go to a website and you need 00:04:17.139 --> 00:04:20.069 to trust. Are you ready? You need to trust that 00:04:20.069 --> 00:04:22.110 you want to spend the next 30 seconds getting 00:04:22.110 --> 00:04:25.790 to know this person a little bit better. As you 00:04:25.790 --> 00:04:28.589 get to know the person a little bit better, then 00:04:28.589 --> 00:04:30.509 you get to say, would I like working with this 00:04:30.509 --> 00:04:32.709 person? Do I trust they'll do the job the way 00:04:32.709 --> 00:04:35.870 I want them to do? And after that first five 00:04:35.870 --> 00:04:39.730 seconds up front, the next 30 seconds, now you 00:04:39.730 --> 00:04:42.170 might say to yourself, hey, I'm willing to spend 00:04:42.170 --> 00:04:44.850 a couple minutes really learning who this person 00:04:44.850 --> 00:04:48.680 is. So trust is if you don't get trust immediately, 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:52.100 you're completely losing the opportunity to even 00:04:52.100 --> 00:04:55.339 be seen. So I know credibility and you want to 00:04:55.339 --> 00:04:59.860 be seen by your prospects. Very good. And I see 00:04:59.860 --> 00:05:02.759 what's happening with the knowing trust, which 00:05:02.759 --> 00:05:06.540 is I speak about often, but trust, know and like. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:08.899 You just turned it around. But I like what you 00:05:08.899 --> 00:05:12.579 did with the authenticity, the servant leadership, 00:05:12.779 --> 00:05:16.420 because. If anybody who's been listening to me 00:05:16.420 --> 00:05:19.759 knows that networking starts with a servant's 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:22.860 heart and you always look to give instead of 00:05:22.860 --> 00:05:25.860 receive. So all of this plays right into the 00:05:25.860 --> 00:05:29.339 hands of my networking. So thank you. Oh, you're 00:05:29.339 --> 00:05:33.439 welcome. Thank you. What are the key traits of 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:36.720 a leader that make them an effective networker? 00:05:40.339 --> 00:05:43.399 You know, I could. Almost go as far. I'm going 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:45.560 to do my cheat sheet, if you don't mind. So I'll 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:49.220 almost go as far as to say, when you first, when 00:05:49.220 --> 00:05:52.920 I meet any leader and I'm focused on the trust 00:05:52.920 --> 00:05:56.600 area of all the four elements, coachability, 00:05:56.899 --> 00:05:59.680 authenticity, integrity, vulnerability, I'm looking 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:03.220 for all of them. But what really pops first is 00:06:03.220 --> 00:06:06.399 the person coachable, right? And you can tell 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:09.139 almost immediately if somebody is coachable or 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:11.800 not. You can ask them a silly question. Like, 00:06:11.819 --> 00:06:13.579 hey, what restaurant do you like most? I went 00:06:13.579 --> 00:06:15.180 there, I didn't like it. How do they respond? 00:06:15.500 --> 00:06:17.579 The second most important thing, which is probably 00:06:17.579 --> 00:06:20.019 as important as what you mentioned before, are 00:06:20.019 --> 00:06:22.439 they a servant leader? As you get to know somebody, 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:24.279 do they have the intent and commitment to do 00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:26.439 the right thing? We'll come back to the fact 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:30.000 that the value integrity is the only value of 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.379 10 that's listed twice. But really, are they 00:06:34.379 --> 00:06:36.500 a servant leader? And then, you know, the interesting 00:06:36.500 --> 00:06:39.379 part is you listen to them speak. as you get 00:06:39.379 --> 00:06:42.699 to decide if you like somebody, you could decide, 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:45.540 I like both of them. One is share the stage. 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:49.519 So for a leader, when they speak, do they use 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:51.759 the names of their employees or other people? 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:54.819 Do they share cred dust? And do they show respect? 00:06:55.319 --> 00:06:58.500 And to me, if I'm going to pick those just four, 00:06:58.660 --> 00:07:01.500 four simple things, coachable, servant, leader, 00:07:01.639 --> 00:07:04.040 they show respect and they share other people's 00:07:04.040 --> 00:07:08.839 cred dust. Okay. Okay, that's, it's very good. 00:07:08.920 --> 00:07:11.180 And that's, again, it's a lot of things that 00:07:11.180 --> 00:07:13.800 I speak about. So what you're speaking about 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:16.439 is close and near and dear to my heart. Nice. 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:19.240 Again, well done. I saw that. I saw that when 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:21.180 I was looking at you and what you do and how 00:07:21.180 --> 00:07:25.579 you show up. Okay, good. How does personal branding 00:07:25.579 --> 00:07:29.139 play into first impressions during networking 00:07:29.139 --> 00:07:37.060 events or introductions? Personal branding is 00:07:37.060 --> 00:07:42.180 such a broad term, right? When we're talking 00:07:42.180 --> 00:07:44.379 about introductions, are you talking about physical 00:07:44.379 --> 00:07:47.139 introductions or online introductions? Physical. 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:50.980 Physical introductions. Okay, perfect. So here's 00:07:50.980 --> 00:07:54.699 where it gets really interesting. You could almost 00:07:54.699 --> 00:07:57.180 call it personal branding, but what I might actually 00:07:57.180 --> 00:08:02.160 say is, are you showing respect? So let's focus 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.560 on the likability piece of it. So when you're 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:07.639 walking up to somebody, are you walking with 00:08:07.639 --> 00:08:09.879 a frown? Are you walking with a smile? When you're 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:13.100 walking up to somebody, are you dressed appropriately? 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:16.519 And technically, what mom always told me, slightly 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:19.800 better than everyone else in the room. Not slightly 00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:23.100 worse than everyone else in the room. And when 00:08:23.100 --> 00:08:26.139 you are introduced by somebody else, are you 00:08:26.139 --> 00:08:28.939 showing them the respect? Michael, if you came 00:08:28.939 --> 00:08:32.190 to me and introduced me to somebody. You might 00:08:32.190 --> 00:08:35.250 go, or if I was going to introduce you, I would 00:08:35.250 --> 00:08:38.529 walk up, I'd bring you with me, I'd introduce 00:08:38.529 --> 00:08:40.669 you to the person, and I'd say, hey, so -and 00:08:40.669 --> 00:08:43.450 -so, you should meet Michael. Now, Michael, by 00:08:43.450 --> 00:08:47.519 the way, this person is really good at ABC. And 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:49.360 then when I expressed you, I would say something 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:51.200 like, you know, what's really interesting, you 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:53.100 like me and the stuff I do? Well, if you like 00:08:53.100 --> 00:08:55.600 me, you'll like Michael. Because Michael Forman 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:57.820 focuses on the same sort of things. He just has 00:08:57.820 --> 00:09:00.019 a different approach to it. So why don't you 00:09:00.019 --> 00:09:02.460 guys talk and let me know how it goes, right? 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:06.820 So notice my voice raised. When I share that, 00:09:06.899 --> 00:09:09.559 because I wanted to show excitement. So showing 00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:13.059 respect and paying cred dust are the things that 00:09:13.059 --> 00:09:16.059 you can do most, assuming you have dressed the 00:09:16.059 --> 00:09:19.399 part and just to be clear, you have to be 100 00:09:19.399 --> 00:09:24.600 % present. Now, let me add one element to that. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:28.639 You are never going to a network event to sell 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:34.500 you or a product. Ever. Period. Done. So if you've 00:09:34.500 --> 00:09:37.059 done a good job, of getting somebody interested 00:09:37.059 --> 00:09:40.120 in you and wanting to learn more. When they ask 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:43.320 you about your expertise and what they could 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:46.799 buy from you, your response should always be, 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:50.340 are you ready? Listen, I am so excited and I'd 00:09:50.340 --> 00:09:53.519 want you to introduce, you to meet other people 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:55.019 here. As a matter of fact, I'm going to keep 00:09:55.019 --> 00:09:57.620 you in mind as I go around and network with others, 00:09:57.700 --> 00:10:00.330 but why don't we put time on the calendar? And 00:10:00.330 --> 00:10:03.330 during that time, we will spend more energy focused 00:10:03.330 --> 00:10:05.570 on your particular needs. But right now, you 00:10:05.570 --> 00:10:07.470 and I are focused on meeting other people. Is 00:10:07.470 --> 00:10:11.090 that okay with you? That would be the best way 00:10:11.090 --> 00:10:14.090 when somebody says that to you. Does that make 00:10:14.090 --> 00:10:17.059 sense? That makes perfect sense. Perfect sense. 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:20.700 And I want to go back to when I'm first meeting 00:10:20.700 --> 00:10:24.059 the person. When you're introducing me, of course, 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:28.179 your body language speaks volumes. It's how you 00:10:28.179 --> 00:10:30.759 keep yourself. When you say dress just a little 00:10:30.759 --> 00:10:34.320 bit above. So if they're in just a shirt and 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:36.700 slacks, you should be wearing a blazer shirt 00:10:36.700 --> 00:10:39.120 and slacks. If they're wearing a blazer shirt 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:42.059 and slacks, you wear a tie blazer shirt and slacks. 00:10:42.120 --> 00:10:45.879 It's always one step above. But the body language, 00:10:46.100 --> 00:10:49.899 it speaks volumes. When you shake somebody's 00:10:49.899 --> 00:10:53.519 hand, right, it's not a dead fish. It's not a 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:55.799 dead fish. You shake it firmly. You look them 00:10:55.799 --> 00:11:00.009 square in the eye. All of this tells. a story 00:11:00.009 --> 00:11:02.230 in the few seconds you have when you're meeting 00:11:02.230 --> 00:11:05.470 them. And they will react to it a lot more, a 00:11:05.470 --> 00:11:08.210 lot better than if you didn't do everything. 00:11:08.690 --> 00:11:11.730 Thank you for filling in the blank. Appreciate 00:11:11.730 --> 00:11:14.690 that. Yes, agreed. 100%. Yeah, it's the same. 00:11:14.830 --> 00:11:18.269 Okay. Can you share a moment when your credibility 00:11:18.269 --> 00:11:21.929 opened a door that skills or experience alone 00:11:21.929 --> 00:11:27.720 couldn't? Ooh, give me a, there's so many different 00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:30.039 areas and different approaches. Can you fill 00:11:30.039 --> 00:11:32.240 in that concept a little bit more in terms of 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:34.440 what you might be looking for? And it's a great 00:11:34.440 --> 00:11:40.200 question. Usually your experience can open the 00:11:40.200 --> 00:11:43.039 door for you. But I'm talking about a moment 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:47.659 that you're, they're not looking at your experience, 00:11:47.799 --> 00:11:51.870 but they're looking at just. Your credibility. 00:11:51.929 --> 00:11:54.110 In other words, they said, oh, that's Mitchell. 00:11:54.330 --> 00:11:58.350 Oh, he's an author and he's this or X, Y, Z. 00:11:58.649 --> 00:12:02.090 And that's the person who I'm being introduced 00:12:02.090 --> 00:12:05.789 to because I don't know any of your experience. 00:12:06.049 --> 00:12:09.009 I only know what is written about you or what 00:12:09.009 --> 00:12:13.000 you've done. It's funny. I was at a. startup 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:15.539 event yesterday. And when somebody introduced 00:12:15.539 --> 00:12:18.320 me, they said, yeah, Mitchell, he's actually 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:19.980 written a couple of books. And the person on 00:12:19.980 --> 00:12:22.899 the other side was like, ooh. And then she goes, 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:26.059 how many did you write? And I go, 65. And she 00:12:26.059 --> 00:12:30.000 goes, oh, it was really an interesting. I think 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.059 it's important where your presence is that level 00:12:34.059 --> 00:12:37.250 of trust where people first get to see you. Agreed 00:12:37.250 --> 00:12:40.049 with the right firm handshake, the look in the 00:12:40.049 --> 00:12:43.250 eyes, the attentiveness, the presentness. And 00:12:43.250 --> 00:12:46.389 then the question has to happen really quickly 00:12:46.389 --> 00:12:48.870 in the mind of the person who you're meeting. 00:12:49.450 --> 00:12:51.570 Is it worthwhile for me to spend time with this 00:12:51.570 --> 00:12:57.289 person? Right. And so what I often will do, if 00:12:57.289 --> 00:13:00.120 somebody doesn't know me, I might. say a couple 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:02.080 of things and it happens all the time, right? 00:13:02.220 --> 00:13:05.059 It's if I need to know who they are first, so 00:13:05.059 --> 00:13:07.419 I never will start with, I'm blah, blah, blah, 00:13:07.419 --> 00:13:09.639 right? Like the stuff I shared before, I don't 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:12.679 really, I don't ever do that. What if I'm at 00:13:12.679 --> 00:13:15.220 a startup event, I can assume, and if I could 00:13:15.220 --> 00:13:18.240 see their name badge or a CEO of a startup, I'm 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:20.460 like, oh, tell me about your company. I'd love 00:13:20.460 --> 00:13:22.620 to hear a little bit more. Now, what's really 00:13:22.620 --> 00:13:25.519 interesting is one of the areas I have specific 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:29.860 expertise. is being able to help any company 00:13:29.860 --> 00:13:33.279 or any individual articulate in less than 10 00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:35.120 words where they're executing on their purpose. 00:13:35.860 --> 00:13:38.960 And so when I went to this networking event, 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:44.360 I met with 10 CEOs. I wanted to get back involved 00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:47.220 and feel comfortable about stuff other than I 00:13:47.220 --> 00:13:50.720 had a badge. By the way, how that badge helped 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:53.100 me get immediate credibility. It said the word 00:13:53.100 --> 00:13:56.659 investor on it. Of all the things I could have 00:13:56.659 --> 00:13:58.519 put, that was the thing that was most interesting 00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:01.279 to that audience. So to answer your question, 00:14:01.399 --> 00:14:03.840 that's immediate credibility. Investor, ha, I 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:05.899 got to talk to this person. But when I'd ask 00:14:05.899 --> 00:14:09.259 them who they were, in 10 out of 10 times, none 00:14:09.259 --> 00:14:13.799 of them had clarity. Because what happens when 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:16.259 you're the CEO of a company or you're networking 00:14:16.259 --> 00:14:19.340 an event, you're so excited about you, you want 00:14:19.340 --> 00:14:22.240 to spew out all the important things about who 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:26.200 you are. So oftentimes I'd listen and depending 00:14:26.200 --> 00:14:29.000 on who they are, if I felt like they were coachable, 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:32.240 I would say something like, I believe that there's 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:35.080 something that's so powerful that if you're able 00:14:35.080 --> 00:14:38.379 to do this, people will listen to you more. Stop. 00:14:39.419 --> 00:14:43.820 That's interesting. What would that be? If you 00:14:43.820 --> 00:14:45.960 were able to articulate the playground you play 00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:49.419 in less than 10 words. That would now allow people 00:14:49.419 --> 00:14:51.580 to jump right in and get excited about you. It 00:14:51.580 --> 00:14:52.879 would give you a compass of who you are and how 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:57.259 you show up. And they go, oh, cool. Now, depending 00:14:57.259 --> 00:14:59.340 on how much time I had with them, I might actually 00:14:59.340 --> 00:15:02.080 say, if you want, we could do it now. Because 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:03.759 I've already spent enough time with them. I know 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:06.080 they're open. They could do it. Or other times 00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:08.980 I might go, you know what? I would love to do 00:15:08.980 --> 00:15:11.220 this with you. I've done this now over a thousand 00:15:11.220 --> 00:15:14.240 times. credibility point i've now done this over 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:16.139 a thousand times i can guarantee that i give 00:15:16.139 --> 00:15:19.120 the annoying charge for this but i would love 00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:21.039 to give this to you because i really like you 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:24.340 would you mind if we put time on the calendar 00:15:24.340 --> 00:15:26.519 i'll send you i'll send you my calendar link 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:30.740 right so it's all the techniques that say i'm 00:15:30.740 --> 00:15:32.639 a servant leader i want to be a value this is 00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:34.580 something that's a value because i normally charge 00:15:34.580 --> 00:15:37.139 for it and i want to help you be more successful 00:15:37.139 --> 00:15:41.480 would you mind And those are going back to a 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:44.000 couple of your questions. At the end of the day, 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:46.000 it's what can you say that somebody says, oh, 00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:48.320 this is worthwhile listening to this person. 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:52.679 And that's really what a credibility piece does, 00:15:52.940 --> 00:15:56.799 whether it's a book or a TEDx or whenever you're 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:59.799 speaking at an event, you are by definition given 00:15:59.799 --> 00:16:02.139 that incremental credibility, whether you deserve 00:16:02.139 --> 00:16:04.379 it or not, because you're one of these speakers. 00:16:05.549 --> 00:16:08.690 Would you say that's an exponential part of your 00:16:08.690 --> 00:16:11.549 elevator pitch, your elevator speech? Because 00:16:11.549 --> 00:16:14.769 the whole idea of the elevator speech is to get 00:16:14.769 --> 00:16:19.029 the person's attention. It's what you're saying 00:16:19.029 --> 00:16:21.649 is that you can get the person to articulate 00:16:21.649 --> 00:16:25.470 what they do in 10 words. That's what that speech, 00:16:25.649 --> 00:16:30.389 that beginning note. Because what I do is I tell 00:16:30.389 --> 00:16:32.809 them, look, you should have your 30 second elevator 00:16:32.809 --> 00:16:35.809 speech. That's what everybody professes. I don't 00:16:35.809 --> 00:16:39.789 profess that. I say, yeah, I really don't. You 00:16:39.789 --> 00:16:42.309 should be able to say what you have to say in 00:16:42.309 --> 00:16:45.909 five seconds. Which is what I do. And then just 00:16:45.909 --> 00:16:48.330 see. And hopefully, because the only thing you're 00:16:48.330 --> 00:16:52.769 looking for is a response. And positive or negative, 00:16:52.929 --> 00:16:55.490 you can really tell. But that's all you're looking 00:16:55.490 --> 00:16:57.289 for. You're looking to draw him into the conversation 00:16:57.289 --> 00:17:01.190 so that you can then further expand. So that's 00:17:01.190 --> 00:17:04.970 my take on the elevator speech. I don't. profess 00:17:04.970 --> 00:17:08.529 it. I don't teach it, but I have that few seconds. 00:17:08.869 --> 00:17:12.150 I have my elevator pitch, okay? If I go to a 00:17:12.150 --> 00:17:15.190 BLI or if I go to a chamber meeting or something, 00:17:15.430 --> 00:17:19.269 I have to do that pitch. And then I - You do, 00:17:19.289 --> 00:17:21.089 but I'm going to say, Michael, you do, but you 00:17:21.089 --> 00:17:23.589 don't. But try it. Tell me, I'm curious, what 00:17:23.589 --> 00:17:26.849 would be your pitch, your 30 -second pitch? I 00:17:26.849 --> 00:17:29.950 help professionals network and communicate more 00:17:29.950 --> 00:17:32.970 effectively and efficiently, thus creating more 00:17:32.970 --> 00:17:38.609 profits. Got it. Okay. So I'm going to say, if 00:17:38.609 --> 00:17:40.869 you don't mind, I'm going to take what you said, 00:17:40.869 --> 00:17:43.369 but take it to a whole new level. All right. 00:17:43.410 --> 00:17:46.769 Let me just ask a question first. Sure. Does 00:17:46.769 --> 00:17:49.009 the elevator speech come from the head or the 00:17:49.009 --> 00:17:53.869 heart? It should come from the heart. But does 00:17:53.869 --> 00:17:56.069 the elevator speech come from the head or the 00:17:56.069 --> 00:17:59.869 heart? The elevator speech as it is comes from 00:17:59.869 --> 00:18:03.339 the head. So. How could somebody possibly get 00:18:03.339 --> 00:18:05.220 to know and trust you if you're speaking from 00:18:05.220 --> 00:18:07.539 your head? For anyone who's listening and watching, 00:18:07.740 --> 00:18:09.920 I would encourage you, whatever you've learned 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:12.160 about the elevator speech, put it on a piece 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:14.880 of paper, crumple it up, burn it, and make sure 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:17.619 you throw it out. You should never, ever give 00:18:17.619 --> 00:18:21.319 a 30 -second elevator pitch, period. That's why 00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:25.000 I said I only use the first five seconds. It's 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:28.339 just enough to get the person's attention because 00:18:28.339 --> 00:18:32.109 I feel that... An elevator speech, an elevator 00:18:32.109 --> 00:18:36.730 pitch, it sounds very robotic, very practiced, 00:18:37.029 --> 00:18:40.849 very like they don't care. They're just telling 00:18:40.849 --> 00:18:43.730 you what it is because that's what they're taught 00:18:43.730 --> 00:18:47.369 to do. And they're taught to do it from their 00:18:47.369 --> 00:18:50.609 head instead of their heart. But that's me. That's 00:18:50.609 --> 00:18:54.250 what I teach. And I think we teach the same thing, 00:18:54.289 --> 00:18:56.170 but I think you're a little bit better than I 00:18:56.170 --> 00:18:59.849 am. Let me tell you why. It's not better or worse. 00:18:59.869 --> 00:19:02.269 That's irrelevant, right? It's if we're adding 00:19:02.269 --> 00:19:04.650 value as servant leaders to others, not better 00:19:04.650 --> 00:19:08.430 or worse, right? It's what I've recognized that 00:19:08.430 --> 00:19:12.049 what I do, I'm going to give you a name for it. 00:19:12.049 --> 00:19:14.630 It's called a CPOP, your customer point of possibilities. 00:19:15.819 --> 00:19:17.920 What I do is I allow somebody in less than 10 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:21.539 words to articulate their CPOP. It's the playground 00:19:21.539 --> 00:19:24.680 they play in. It's the compass they use for making 00:19:24.680 --> 00:19:26.940 decisions of, hey, is this a good networking 00:19:26.940 --> 00:19:28.700 event? Is this a good website? Is this a good 00:19:28.700 --> 00:19:32.220 LinkedIn profile? It is the thing that what's 00:19:32.220 --> 00:19:34.640 really cool about having a CPOP, Michael, if 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:38.059 you share the CPOP, what's really cool is the 00:19:38.059 --> 00:19:40.180 person who's listening is one of three people. 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:44.829 They are either a referral partner. They are 00:19:44.829 --> 00:19:47.710 either a prospect or they're either somebody 00:19:47.710 --> 00:19:50.089 who doesn't give a shit. Now, it doesn't mean 00:19:50.089 --> 00:19:52.549 they don't care about you as a human. It just 00:19:52.549 --> 00:19:56.690 means they don't care about the playground you 00:19:56.690 --> 00:19:59.650 play in. So if you share your CPOP, and I'll 00:19:59.650 --> 00:20:01.609 share mine, and if you want, we can create yours. 00:20:02.009 --> 00:20:04.670 If you share your CPOP with somebody, the most 00:20:04.670 --> 00:20:06.970 natural thing, if they're one or two, if they're 00:20:06.970 --> 00:20:09.529 a referral partner or prospect, is tell me more. 00:20:10.779 --> 00:20:13.000 Now, what's interesting about a CPOP is people 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:14.900 are not used to hearing it. Because what I'm 00:20:14.900 --> 00:20:16.420 going to encourage you to teach your people, 00:20:16.500 --> 00:20:19.740 never say, I help, I serve. Because what happens 00:20:19.740 --> 00:20:22.740 immediately is people go, ugh. Now, what you 00:20:22.740 --> 00:20:25.140 could do instead, because they feel like you 00:20:25.140 --> 00:20:27.059 might be selling. Oh, that's one of those. No 00:20:27.059 --> 00:20:29.140 interest, right? What you could do instead is 00:20:29.140 --> 00:20:35.460 do a hook up front. The hook is, there's a group 00:20:35.460 --> 00:20:39.279 of clients I love working with. Or there's a 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:42.640 group, there's a set of professionals that really 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:47.819 benefit from what I do. But then pause. So for 00:20:47.819 --> 00:20:49.960 me, the way I'd say it, I have two CPOPs. I'm 00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:51.500 going to give the one that's appropriate for 00:20:51.500 --> 00:20:55.119 your audience. There's a group of professionals 00:20:55.119 --> 00:21:01.559 I add so much value to. Pause. Business owners 00:21:01.559 --> 00:21:07.440 pursuing abundance with LinkedIn. Six words. 00:21:09.439 --> 00:21:11.640 So Michael, the most natural thing there is, 00:21:11.660 --> 00:21:13.859 Mitchell, what do you mean? Tell me more. So 00:21:13.859 --> 00:21:15.619 now I'm going to say something in less than a 00:21:15.619 --> 00:21:17.740 minute, but I'm going to say it off the top of 00:21:17.740 --> 00:21:20.160 my head based on our previous conversation. I'm 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:22.400 not going to memorize, like every time I say 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:24.799 it, it's different because it's coming from my 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:28.339 heart. It's not coming from my head. Michael, 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:30.599 what I actually do, I've been part of LinkedIn 00:21:30.599 --> 00:21:33.000 since before LinkedIn was making money. I was 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:36.990 paid. by reid hoffman and constantine gerlich 00:21:36.990 --> 00:21:39.009 to actually write and publish linkedin's first 00:21:39.009 --> 00:21:44.549 book so what i do is i help people use the 20 00:21:44.549 --> 00:21:46.650 of functionality that would deliver 80 percent 00:21:46.650 --> 00:21:51.549 of value just enough where if they're really 00:21:51.549 --> 00:21:54.470 interested they might ah i'm interested tell 00:21:54.470 --> 00:21:57.299 me more Here's what I would do next. I have seven 00:21:57.299 --> 00:21:59.319 habits of highly effective LinkedIn networking. 00:21:59.559 --> 00:22:02.079 Could we get time on the calendar? Or by the 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:03.920 way, I have an event next week. You could sign 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:06.160 up for it. It's complimentary. Or can we get 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:07.660 time on the calendar and we'll see if it's a 00:22:07.660 --> 00:22:10.640 good fit for you, right? Now, let me tell you 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:13.559 what I'm really doing. And this is where we're 00:22:13.559 --> 00:22:15.579 different because what you do is fascinating. 00:22:16.730 --> 00:22:19.450 What I'm going to say is you help people with 00:22:19.450 --> 00:22:21.650 CPOPing. You're giving them the ideas and thoughts 00:22:21.650 --> 00:22:24.210 of how they can network more effectively. And 00:22:24.210 --> 00:22:27.049 then they have a book and a learning course where 00:22:27.049 --> 00:22:31.109 they could learn more. What I have figured out 00:22:31.109 --> 00:22:35.829 is the CPOP to me, it's a formula. And I can 00:22:35.829 --> 00:22:38.029 sit, like I said, any human, any company and 00:22:38.029 --> 00:22:41.289 give them the formula. Here's what's interesting. 00:22:42.809 --> 00:22:44.529 When I'm talking with somebody, they're going 00:22:44.529 --> 00:22:46.559 to feel so good about it. They're going to go, 00:22:46.619 --> 00:22:49.460 oh my God, that's me. Because we as humans, we 00:22:49.460 --> 00:22:52.579 vibrate at a frequency. And if you are a servant 00:22:52.579 --> 00:22:54.940 leader and you're living aligned with yourself, 00:22:55.079 --> 00:22:56.980 I'm going to just give you the words that will 00:22:56.980 --> 00:23:00.000 help you be in alignment. That's fantastic. I've 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:03.000 done this now over a thousand times. Here's what 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:07.140 happens. The world is full of chaos. And in 90 00:23:07.140 --> 00:23:10.680 % of the times without incremental support, they 00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:13.299 are going to forget their CPAP in two hours to 00:23:13.299 --> 00:23:16.430 two weeks. It just... It's just the way it works. 00:23:16.609 --> 00:23:21.410 So the world needs people like you and I that 00:23:21.410 --> 00:23:23.869 will help people once they learn how to network 00:23:23.869 --> 00:23:26.109 more effectively to stay in touch with how to 00:23:26.109 --> 00:23:29.529 do it. Or once they learn, in my case, what I'm 00:23:29.529 --> 00:23:32.630 doing with LinkedIn is I'm helping them play 00:23:32.630 --> 00:23:34.549 in the playground they say they want to play 00:23:34.549 --> 00:23:38.410 in. As opposed to the next nice shiny object 00:23:38.410 --> 00:23:43.420 comes by and they try to do something else. Very 00:23:43.420 --> 00:23:45.299 good. First of all, I'm so glad that this is 00:23:45.299 --> 00:23:47.759 being recorded because there's no way I can write 00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:50.619 down enough notes listening to. I was listening 00:23:50.619 --> 00:23:53.660 so intently that I am going to play this video 00:23:53.660 --> 00:23:56.940 back about 10 times so I get it right. With that 00:23:56.940 --> 00:24:00.799 in mind, what advice would you give to someone 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:04.119 trying to align their personal brand with the 00:24:04.119 --> 00:24:09.690 leadership roles that they aspire to? It's really 00:24:09.690 --> 00:24:12.890 hard for me these days not to actually, and I'm 00:24:12.890 --> 00:24:16.750 not trying to sell who I am. Oh, maybe I am. 00:24:17.089 --> 00:24:20.009 It is important for you to be able to articulate 00:24:20.009 --> 00:24:23.210 the playground you play in. And so the playground 00:24:23.210 --> 00:24:26.109 is typically defined in this way by this formula. 00:24:27.430 --> 00:24:30.490 And it's, I'll give you the secret formula. You 00:24:30.490 --> 00:24:34.369 okay if I share that? Absolutely. So what you 00:24:34.369 --> 00:24:38.039 want to be able to do in 1OT. One or two or worst 00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:40.819 case, three words, who do you serve? In your 00:24:40.819 --> 00:24:44.019 case, it's professionals, right? In my case, 00:24:44.019 --> 00:24:46.480 either business owners or when I put on my executive 00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:51.160 coaching hat, it's Inc. 5 ,000 CEOs, different 00:24:51.160 --> 00:24:53.660 audience, different CPOP. So who do you serve? 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:57.099 Now, if you're interested in, if you're in corporate 00:24:57.099 --> 00:25:00.640 and you're at a company today, hopefully you 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:02.839 had a company you love being at. If you're not. 00:25:03.150 --> 00:25:05.210 If you don't love who you are and what you do 00:25:05.210 --> 00:25:06.849 at that company, it's time to move companies, 00:25:07.009 --> 00:25:10.970 right? And so who do you serve? And then from 00:25:10.970 --> 00:25:13.609 the perspective of who you serve as a servant 00:25:13.609 --> 00:25:15.549 leader, what is the pain point or pleasure point? 00:25:17.089 --> 00:25:20.109 80 % of the time, it's a pain point focused thing. 00:25:20.130 --> 00:25:23.529 In 20 % of the time, it's okay to do the pleasure 00:25:23.529 --> 00:25:25.809 point. For instance, when I talk to CEOs, their 00:25:25.809 --> 00:25:28.069 egos are so big, I have to actually give the 00:25:28.069 --> 00:25:32.079 pleasure point one. And so what's interesting 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:35.220 as I was thinking about you and to answer your 00:25:35.220 --> 00:25:40.200 question, it's important to be able to know the 00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:42.920 playground you're playing in and then share it 00:25:42.920 --> 00:25:44.799 at the right time with people when they ask you 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:48.240 who you are. But it gives you this compass. When 00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:50.839 you have a compass, now what happens when opportunities 00:25:50.839 --> 00:25:53.579 come your way, you know what to yes, what to 00:25:53.579 --> 00:25:57.319 no. You know what's a maybe. It's so clear of 00:25:57.319 --> 00:25:59.599 the audience you serve and how you serve them 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:02.519 that you should feel comfortable going above 00:26:02.519 --> 00:26:05.380 and beyond. That's what gets you the job. If 00:26:05.380 --> 00:26:07.460 you know how to play in your playground, I sat 00:26:07.460 --> 00:26:10.980 on the board of a public firm. The people that 00:26:10.980 --> 00:26:13.980 I wanted on the executive staff with the CEO. 00:26:14.680 --> 00:26:16.920 were people who knew how to play in their functional 00:26:16.920 --> 00:26:19.799 roles. Because they weren't going to get direction 00:26:19.799 --> 00:26:22.700 from the CEO, at least they shouldn't. They should 00:26:22.700 --> 00:26:25.279 be telling the CEO what they need so they can 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:27.019 accomplish the goals they were set out to do. 00:26:27.619 --> 00:26:29.720 And that's really so they knew how to play in 00:26:29.720 --> 00:26:31.359 the playground that they set up for themselves. 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:35.700 I like that. I like that a lot. Here's a question 00:26:35.700 --> 00:26:40.420 for you. What are some common mistakes professionals 00:26:40.420 --> 00:26:43.740 make that hurt their credibility while networking? 00:26:44.779 --> 00:26:48.359 The most obvious, the easiest one is the one 00:26:48.359 --> 00:26:50.680 you've heard many times. You have one mouth and 00:26:50.680 --> 00:26:54.640 two ears. Yeah. And you're not using them in 00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:57.259 the right proportions. That's right. The most 00:26:57.259 --> 00:26:58.940 important thing you can do when you're networking 00:26:58.940 --> 00:27:02.700 is ask a good question that encourages the other 00:27:02.700 --> 00:27:06.119 person to talk. Now, what's the most important 00:27:06.119 --> 00:27:11.690 thing to do next? Listen. Okay, don't listen 00:27:11.690 --> 00:27:13.809 with the intent of when you could interrupt them, 00:27:13.930 --> 00:27:17.990 bad. And when you could say who you are, also 00:27:17.990 --> 00:27:22.630 bad. Just listen, add value, right? The most 00:27:22.630 --> 00:27:25.490 important thing, if somebody walks away liking 00:27:25.490 --> 00:27:29.289 you and trusting you because they spoke for 10 00:27:29.289 --> 00:27:32.349 minutes and you spoke for a minute or 30 seconds. 00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:36.160 That just gives you the, oh, by the way, if somebody 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:38.460 knew that each person should speak for five minutes 00:27:38.460 --> 00:27:40.480 and somebody took nine, that's probably not somebody 00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:43.099 you want to play with anyhow. But if you really 00:27:43.099 --> 00:27:45.279 focused on the other person, so that's the biggest 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:48.279 mistake is not listening, talking too much, trying 00:27:48.279 --> 00:27:52.799 to highlight you in a networking event. If you're 00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:55.299 a servant leader, if you're really echoing concepts 00:27:55.299 --> 00:27:57.960 of credibility, you are there to be of service 00:27:57.960 --> 00:28:00.039 to somebody else. You are coachable. If they 00:28:00.039 --> 00:28:03.059 say something that changes who you are, you go, 00:28:03.549 --> 00:28:06.490 And kind of what you're doing today is, oh, that's 00:28:06.490 --> 00:28:09.130 really interesting. I'm going to listen to this 00:28:09.130 --> 00:28:11.450 a couple of times because I can't take notes 00:28:11.450 --> 00:28:13.829 fast enough. You're also spreading my cred dust. 00:28:13.930 --> 00:28:16.329 You're doing the types of things not because 00:28:16.329 --> 00:28:20.819 you're following a blueprint. You're doing it 00:28:20.819 --> 00:28:23.619 because you're a coachable, credible, vulnerable 00:28:23.619 --> 00:28:27.099 person who authentically wants to do better by 00:28:27.099 --> 00:28:29.140 their clients. So you have the intent and commitment 00:28:29.140 --> 00:28:31.599 to do the right thing. And as a result of being 00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:34.359 that person, you're just allowing yourself to 00:28:34.359 --> 00:28:38.019 be you. And you're doing it while you're recording 00:28:38.019 --> 00:28:40.480 on a podcast where people are many times very 00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:44.279 nervous, but you're just showing up as you. And 00:28:44.279 --> 00:28:47.160 if anyone is paying attention, I like this Michael 00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:50.269 guy. I mean, this was a good episode. I want 00:28:50.269 --> 00:28:52.829 Michael to help me. And that's what comes out 00:28:52.829 --> 00:28:55.390 when you listen to and watch something like this. 00:28:56.349 --> 00:28:59.450 Yep. I firmly believe having the servant's heart 00:28:59.450 --> 00:29:03.329 when you go networking is paramount. As you're 00:29:03.329 --> 00:29:05.630 listening to that person and letting them speak, 00:29:05.890 --> 00:29:10.910 and I use something called form before I talk 00:29:10.910 --> 00:29:14.150 with them. It's family, occupation, recreation, 00:29:14.390 --> 00:29:18.839 and a message, right? So I have that. in my head 00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:21.859 before I go and speak to them because I can speak 00:29:21.859 --> 00:29:25.079 to them about any of the above. But as they're 00:29:25.079 --> 00:29:28.680 speaking, and after they finished, you pause, 00:29:28.839 --> 00:29:32.900 very important, that pause, because you don't 00:29:32.900 --> 00:29:35.880 want to say the next thing that you wanted to 00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:39.319 say, but you're going to respond to what he said, 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:42.160 he or she said. And you say, you know something, 00:29:42.380 --> 00:29:46.269 I like you. I like the way you do business. How 00:29:46.269 --> 00:29:50.190 can I make you more successful? How can I be 00:29:50.190 --> 00:29:53.910 a good referral source for you? And I usually 00:29:53.910 --> 00:29:56.450 blows him away. He said, I don't even know what 00:29:56.450 --> 00:29:59.410 you do yet because I haven't said anything yet, 00:29:59.509 --> 00:30:02.109 but he talked or she talked for five minutes. 00:30:02.930 --> 00:30:07.069 And that's the whole process. So I strongly believe 00:30:07.069 --> 00:30:09.029 that. Hopefully you use a little bit of that 00:30:09.029 --> 00:30:12.750 yourself. Remind me, what was the R? I got the 00:30:12.750 --> 00:30:17.420 FOM, but I didn't get the R. Recreation. Recreation. 00:30:17.559 --> 00:30:20.180 Cool. Okay. Yeah, because, you know, when you're 00:30:20.180 --> 00:30:22.259 going and you're sitting at somebody's desk, 00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:24.740 okay, and you're meeting this person for the 00:30:24.740 --> 00:30:27.259 first time, you have about 30 seconds to look 00:30:27.259 --> 00:30:31.099 around his office and see what he's got on the 00:30:31.099 --> 00:30:34.319 walls, on his desk, and everything he has. And 00:30:34.319 --> 00:30:36.680 one thing, here's a little trick for you. He's 00:30:36.680 --> 00:30:40.660 got pictures of his family on his desk. All right? 00:30:45.180 --> 00:30:49.619 positioned? Are they just to him so that only 00:30:49.619 --> 00:30:52.720 he can see him? Or are they facing outward for 00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:56.579 you to see? And if they're facing outward, then 00:30:56.579 --> 00:30:59.559 he's that much more proud of his family. And 00:30:59.559 --> 00:31:03.259 he wants you to say something about his family, 00:31:03.339 --> 00:31:05.619 his children, his whatever. And that's a great 00:31:05.619 --> 00:31:09.640 way to start your conversation. Cool. I love 00:31:09.640 --> 00:31:12.660 that. Yeah. Great suggestion. Yeah. Little tidbits, 00:31:12.740 --> 00:31:17.029 little tidbits. Okay, how can emerging leaders 00:31:17.029 --> 00:31:20.269 use networking to strengthen both their influence 00:31:20.269 --> 00:31:28.069 and their personal brand? If you're networking 00:31:28.069 --> 00:31:32.109 as an emerging leader at a networking event where 00:31:32.109 --> 00:31:36.990 there aren't other people at your company, You 00:31:36.990 --> 00:31:40.150 want to do exactly what you suggested. You want 00:31:40.150 --> 00:31:42.430 to get to know people where you can add value 00:31:42.430 --> 00:31:45.750 to them so they recognize who you are. You want 00:31:45.750 --> 00:31:48.230 to be able to, if you are writing something that 00:31:48.230 --> 00:31:50.589 you think would be relevant for them, you go, 00:31:50.630 --> 00:31:52.789 you know what? I'm spending a lot of time in 00:31:52.789 --> 00:31:55.349 this area. Do you mind if I send you an article 00:31:55.349 --> 00:31:57.250 I'm writing sometime next week when I'm done 00:31:57.250 --> 00:32:00.460 writing it? Or... How about when I'm doing my 00:32:00.460 --> 00:32:02.779 podcast, every now and then I'm going to interview 00:32:02.779 --> 00:32:05.440 somebody who's a good fit. Do you mind if I send 00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:07.920 you that? Or maybe even send you a real, real 00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:11.339 snippet from that might be of value. Those are 00:32:11.339 --> 00:32:14.119 things that you do with people outside your company. 00:32:15.059 --> 00:32:18.180 If you're networking inside your company, which 00:32:18.180 --> 00:32:21.779 you absolutely should, what you're doing is you're 00:32:21.779 --> 00:32:26.049 actively looking for people who could be. mentors 00:32:26.049 --> 00:32:28.869 of you or mentor you in some way at some point 00:32:28.869 --> 00:32:31.769 in time right and so what you're looking for 00:32:31.769 --> 00:32:34.710 is you're looking for if you're thinking about 00:32:34.710 --> 00:32:37.890 the form that you just mentioned if you're looking 00:32:37.890 --> 00:32:41.430 for things that are valuable that they first 00:32:41.430 --> 00:32:43.990 can relate to you because you've recognized it 00:32:43.990 --> 00:32:47.309 and then second you go every now and then i've 00:32:47.309 --> 00:32:51.130 got this interesting question And actually, I'm 00:32:51.130 --> 00:32:52.809 not even sure I'd ever, no, I wouldn't do it. 00:32:52.869 --> 00:32:54.650 I was going to say something and then I'm like, 00:32:54.730 --> 00:32:57.670 nope, too formal, too quick. All you want to 00:32:57.670 --> 00:33:00.750 do is be of service and be recognized when you 00:33:00.750 --> 00:33:03.609 first meet somebody. And at some point in time, 00:33:03.650 --> 00:33:07.089 if you think they could be a mentor to you, you 00:33:07.089 --> 00:33:09.470 want to build the relationship over time inside 00:33:09.470 --> 00:33:11.369 the company. You don't want to ever ask when 00:33:11.369 --> 00:33:13.569 you first meet somebody. It's a little bit too 00:33:13.569 --> 00:33:16.450 needy and it's not the right thing to do, but 00:33:16.450 --> 00:33:18.930 you want to be of service. So if they have an 00:33:18.930 --> 00:33:21.289 admin, you could ask the question of the admin, 00:33:21.430 --> 00:33:24.829 hey, what could I do that would be of value to 00:33:24.829 --> 00:33:28.430 your boss? It's the same things you're doing, 00:33:28.470 --> 00:33:30.329 but if you're doing it for a company, you just 00:33:30.329 --> 00:33:32.710 have to follow a little bit different set of 00:33:32.710 --> 00:33:35.069 rules inside your company than you do outside 00:33:35.069 --> 00:33:38.970 the company. Very good. Very good. And going 00:33:38.970 --> 00:33:42.910 to the secretary or assistant, asking them the 00:33:42.910 --> 00:33:45.930 best way to get to that person, that's gold. 00:33:46.190 --> 00:33:48.190 Because first of all, I've done that for years, 00:33:48.250 --> 00:33:52.710 for 100 years. That, to me, is sales 101. But 00:33:52.710 --> 00:33:57.609 it's all these items, all these things. are forgotten 00:33:57.609 --> 00:34:01.410 all of these things people don't do anymore but 00:34:01.410 --> 00:34:03.809 i don't want to get into that because i can sit 00:34:03.809 --> 00:34:06.789 here for an hour and talk about that what role 00:34:06.789 --> 00:34:11.050 does consistency in behavior and i'm sorry in 00:34:11.050 --> 00:34:14.710 behavior message and image play in long -term 00:34:14.710 --> 00:34:22.969 networking success so i did promise that i would 00:34:22.969 --> 00:34:33.050 tell you why The value of integrity was listed 00:34:33.050 --> 00:34:37.190 twice. So during the interviews, what came out 00:34:37.190 --> 00:34:41.110 were 10 values of credibility. And when I first 00:34:41.110 --> 00:34:44.329 created the 10 values, I couldn't tell you why 00:34:44.329 --> 00:34:47.670 integrity was there twice. It took a year before 00:34:47.670 --> 00:34:51.070 I really figured it out. And it took about four 00:34:51.070 --> 00:34:53.190 and a half years before I could make the statement 00:34:53.190 --> 00:34:55.550 that I'm going to make a little bit later. What's 00:34:55.550 --> 00:34:58.929 interesting is about a year after putting this 00:34:58.929 --> 00:35:03.730 out there, what I realized is that the difference 00:35:03.730 --> 00:35:07.070 between the integrity that's associated with 00:35:07.070 --> 00:35:09.010 trust, that's your external integrity. That's 00:35:09.010 --> 00:35:12.250 who you say you are. But if somebody gets to 00:35:12.250 --> 00:35:16.070 know you, know the real you, the integrity there 00:35:16.070 --> 00:35:18.210 is your internal integrity, who you really are, 00:35:18.269 --> 00:35:21.690 who you really act as. And I want to make this 00:35:21.690 --> 00:35:23.809 fun statement I learned about six months ago. 00:35:24.329 --> 00:35:26.610 And as you ever go to a networking event and 00:35:26.610 --> 00:35:28.190 you're meeting somebody and then the hair in 00:35:28.190 --> 00:35:29.929 the back of your neck stands up, you've got this 00:35:29.929 --> 00:35:33.030 spidey sense there's something wrong. Yeah. I 00:35:33.030 --> 00:35:35.989 want to put words on that. It's simply they're 00:35:35.989 --> 00:35:38.630 saying one thing. Their external integrity is 00:35:38.630 --> 00:35:41.449 saying one thing, but you know that they don't 00:35:41.449 --> 00:35:43.550 mean that when you look at their internal integrity. 00:35:43.650 --> 00:35:46.150 When there's incongruency between external and 00:35:46.150 --> 00:35:48.090 internal integrity, that's when your spidey sense 00:35:48.090 --> 00:35:54.019 pops up. So the word consistency. And I'll also 00:35:54.019 --> 00:35:56.260 add another C word, a couple of C words I like. 00:35:56.300 --> 00:35:59.440 I love curious, but also the consistency, the 00:35:59.440 --> 00:36:03.599 C word commitment. When you're consistent and 00:36:03.599 --> 00:36:07.619 have commitment to focus on doing the right things 00:36:07.619 --> 00:36:12.380 by those that you serve, you over time are making 00:36:12.380 --> 00:36:14.599 sure there's alignment between your external 00:36:14.599 --> 00:36:18.989 and internal integrity. If you don't have that 00:36:18.989 --> 00:36:22.969 alignment, that's an immediate, when an executive 00:36:22.969 --> 00:36:26.530 comes to me or is imposed on me, the first thing 00:36:26.530 --> 00:36:31.110 I have to see is, hey, are they coachable? They're 00:36:31.110 --> 00:36:34.610 not coachable, I'll say no immediately. But then 00:36:34.610 --> 00:36:37.829 within the first conversation or two, I'm going 00:36:37.829 --> 00:36:39.869 to learn whether or not there's incongruency 00:36:39.869 --> 00:36:41.909 between the external and internal integrity. 00:36:43.280 --> 00:36:47.179 Depending on how bad that is, it's either coachable 00:36:47.179 --> 00:36:50.260 if they're coachable or not. And I'll make those 00:36:50.260 --> 00:36:52.500 decisions right then. And it's really important 00:36:52.500 --> 00:36:56.739 to and it's hard sometimes. It's sometimes easy 00:36:56.739 --> 00:36:58.800 to do things that other people are doing, even 00:36:58.800 --> 00:37:01.980 though it's inconsistent with your values. But 00:37:01.980 --> 00:37:03.880 you've got to own who you are and you've got 00:37:03.880 --> 00:37:07.159 to show up in a credible way that people see 00:37:07.159 --> 00:37:11.920 you in a way that they're comfortable. Yes, very 00:37:11.920 --> 00:37:14.820 much. That's good. And I like that with the spidey 00:37:14.820 --> 00:37:18.480 senses, because I think everybody who has networked 00:37:18.480 --> 00:37:21.780 as much as we have, you walk into a room and 00:37:21.780 --> 00:37:23.940 you start talking with somebody and they start 00:37:23.940 --> 00:37:27.000 talking and immediately that starts to flare 00:37:27.000 --> 00:37:29.679 up. You're like, no, I'm going to make this as 00:37:29.679 --> 00:37:31.760 short as possible and just move on to the next 00:37:31.760 --> 00:37:35.199 person. Because I've gotten really to the point 00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:37.500 where I don't want to deal with that anymore. 00:37:38.119 --> 00:37:40.539 If you're just starting out, if you're a sales 00:37:40.539 --> 00:37:43.019 professional, you really do business with just 00:37:43.019 --> 00:37:45.519 about anybody that's going to buy your services. 00:37:46.360 --> 00:37:50.260 And I'm really at a point where I'm like, no, 00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:53.820 I remember I had a graphic design studio about 00:37:53.820 --> 00:37:58.500 20 years ago, and I was taught a lesson from 00:37:58.500 --> 00:38:01.460 my mentor at the time. He said, look, Michael, 00:38:01.559 --> 00:38:06.980 you have to fire your client. It was just, I 00:38:06.980 --> 00:38:08.539 was like, but you can't do that. He's paying 00:38:08.539 --> 00:38:11.239 me a lot of money. Yeah, but your health is worth 00:38:11.239 --> 00:38:13.619 a lot more than that. You have to be happy at 00:38:13.619 --> 00:38:18.400 what you do and fire the client. And I did, and 00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:22.679 my profit margin went down, but I felt a lot 00:38:22.679 --> 00:38:25.480 better. So there was something to learn about 00:38:25.480 --> 00:38:29.860 that. Okay, how can someone with limited experience 00:38:29.860 --> 00:38:39.320 still build credibility and lead within? It's 00:38:39.320 --> 00:38:42.559 a very open -ended question, so let me add a 00:38:42.559 --> 00:38:45.840 little bit of context around that. There are 00:38:45.840 --> 00:38:48.860 different forms of leadership, right? One of 00:38:48.860 --> 00:38:55.619 the best form of leadership that is very easy 00:38:55.619 --> 00:38:59.480 for anyone to do, regardless of title, is... 00:38:59.880 --> 00:39:03.420 The leadership of taking notes and summarizing 00:39:03.420 --> 00:39:06.840 notes and forward and following through. Essentially, 00:39:06.900 --> 00:39:11.639 good project management. So at any point in time 00:39:11.639 --> 00:39:14.000 when a group of disparate people come together, 00:39:14.219 --> 00:39:17.840 being the person who will volunteer to take notes 00:39:17.840 --> 00:39:20.380 and distribute the notes and then recap the notes 00:39:20.380 --> 00:39:24.239 at the next meeting, that's the leader. Whether 00:39:24.239 --> 00:39:28.920 or not they have the title or not. And so it's... 00:39:29.579 --> 00:39:33.199 If you have very limited experience, being that 00:39:33.199 --> 00:39:36.960 person and saying, listen, I have limited experience 00:39:36.960 --> 00:39:40.679 in this field, but what I can do really well 00:39:40.679 --> 00:39:43.739 is listen and take notes. Do you mind if I do 00:39:43.739 --> 00:39:47.179 that? And if you're showing your vulnerability, 00:39:47.500 --> 00:39:49.519 if you're showing that you authentically care, 00:39:49.659 --> 00:39:51.619 you have the intent and commitment to do the 00:39:51.619 --> 00:39:55.679 right thing, sometimes that leadership will actually 00:39:55.679 --> 00:39:58.440 be rewarded with true leadership who should run 00:39:58.440 --> 00:40:01.400 the project. Like I take into notes. So that 00:40:01.400 --> 00:40:04.099 to me is an approach I would suggest that people 00:40:04.099 --> 00:40:08.719 take. And let's bring this podcast full circle. 00:40:09.059 --> 00:40:12.800 And if someone wants to be remembered after a 00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:16.500 single conversation, what should they focus on 00:40:16.500 --> 00:40:26.760 projecting? Servant leadership. You are there 00:40:26.760 --> 00:40:31.800 to add. value to the person you're with and, 00:40:31.860 --> 00:40:36.599 if possible, to be able to add value? That's 00:40:36.599 --> 00:40:39.579 always my answer. That's always my answer. And 00:40:39.579 --> 00:40:42.079 I'm so glad that you said the very same thing. 00:40:42.750 --> 00:40:45.250 Mitchell, I can't begin to tell you how much 00:40:45.250 --> 00:40:48.130 I enjoyed this podcast. I can probably go on 00:40:48.130 --> 00:40:50.630 speaking with you for another two hours without 00:40:50.630 --> 00:40:53.750 even thinking about the time. But if somebody 00:40:53.750 --> 00:40:57.550 wanted to hire you or ask you a question or ask 00:40:57.550 --> 00:40:59.909 anything about you, how would they find you? 00:41:00.409 --> 00:41:02.469 You know, the best way, and this is something 00:41:02.469 --> 00:41:05.449 that many people make mistakes at, they'll start 00:41:05.449 --> 00:41:08.929 echoing off tons of ideas of how to reach somebody. 00:41:09.110 --> 00:41:11.449 So I'm going to give you one. It's my website. 00:41:12.079 --> 00:41:14.900 go to MitchellLevy .com, that's three L's, M 00:41:14.900 --> 00:41:18.900 -I -T -C -H -E -L -L -E -V -Y .com. And from 00:41:18.900 --> 00:41:21.699 there, you could see the types of programs I 00:41:21.699 --> 00:41:23.659 have, the things that I do. You could participate 00:41:23.659 --> 00:41:27.179 in either paid for or some complimentary resources. 00:41:27.400 --> 00:41:30.360 You could even book time on my calendar. So that's 00:41:30.360 --> 00:41:35.739 at MitchellLevy .com. That's fantastic. And again, 00:41:36.260 --> 00:41:39.219 I enjoyed this so much and I look forward to 00:41:39.219 --> 00:41:42.280 talking to you again. Michael. Me as well. Thank 00:41:42.280 --> 00:41:45.880 you. I really appreciate it. Well, hold on, folks. 00:41:46.079 --> 00:41:48.659 Don't go anywhere. Let me just read a few of 00:41:48.659 --> 00:41:51.599 our sponsors that we have. Struggling to reach 00:41:51.599 --> 00:41:55.300 success? 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This is something 00:42:35.840 --> 00:42:39.420 I believe in wholeheartedly. Revved Up Kids is 00:42:39.420 --> 00:42:42.820 on a mission to protect children and teens from 00:42:42.820 --> 00:42:45.679 sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking. 00:42:45.920 --> 00:42:48.579 They provide prevention training programs for 00:42:48.579 --> 00:42:52.250 children. teens, and adults. To learn more, go 00:42:52.250 --> 00:42:57.110 to revvedupkids .org. That's R -E -V -V -E -D 00:42:57.110 --> 00:43:04.309 -U -P -K -I -D -S .org. Well, that's a wrap, 00:43:04.369 --> 00:43:07.230 folks. A huge thank you to our special guests 00:43:07.230 --> 00:43:10.570 for sharing such incredible insights today. And 00:43:10.570 --> 00:43:13.949 of course, a big shout out to you, our amazing 00:43:13.949 --> 00:43:16.889 listeners, for tuning in and spending your time 00:43:16.889 --> 00:43:20.760 with us. Remember, networking isn't about being 00:43:20.760 --> 00:43:24.099 perfect. It's about being present. So take what 00:43:24.099 --> 00:43:26.699 you've learned today, get out there, and make 00:43:26.699 --> 00:43:29.699 some meaningful connections. If you enjoyed this 00:43:29.699 --> 00:43:32.659 episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave us 00:43:32.659 --> 00:43:35.280 a review, and share it with someone who could 00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:38.579 use a little networking inspiration. Let's keep 00:43:38.579 --> 00:43:42.300 the conversation going. You can find me on Apple, 00:43:42.420 --> 00:43:46.760 Spotify, YouTube, or my website, Michael. Remember, 00:43:47.320 --> 00:43:50.699 Until next time, keep practicing, keep connecting, 00:43:50.820 --> 00:43:54.000 and keep building those relationships. This is 00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:57.199 Michael signing off. Take care and happy networking.