1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,600 Welcome to the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education Podcast, the space where education meets resilience. 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:14,080 I'm Dr. Joey Weisler, and in each episode, we dive deep into the personal stories of educators, students, 3 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:20,520 leaders, and frontline advocates who are navigating the complexities within modern education. 4 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:26,000 Whether you're just starting your teaching journey or are a seasoned professional looking for inspiration, 5 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:33,280 we'll explore how to foster meaningful change, prevent burnout, and build trauma-informed communities within our schools. 6 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:38,000 Now, let's take a seat at the front of the classroom as we get started. 7 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:45,000 All right, welcome back to the Classroom Narratives Podcast, everyone, where we continue to explore the power of teaching and mentorship. 8 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:54,360 Today's guest, Rob Durant, has spent his career bridging business and education, first at Disney, then in sales leadership, and even as a high school math teacher. 9 00:00:54,360 --> 00:01:02,160 Now, with the Institute of Sales Professionals, he's bringing education to the world of sales, proving that teaching happens everywhere. 10 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,840 So let's dive into the conversation, and Rob, thank you for joining us today. 11 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:08,400 Joey, thank you so much for having me here. 12 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:18,920 It's great to have you. So, Rob, I wanted to begin by having you give us a little bit of a background as to who you are and what your relationship is to both education and marketing. 13 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:28,360 Well, thank you for asking. I love to share to anyone who asks. At my core, I'm a teacher at heart. 14 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:34,440 Son of a math teacher, my dad has taught in public schools for over 50 years now. 15 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:39,760 Even in his retirement, he's still teaching at the local community college. 16 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:48,320 But when it came time for me to go to college and choose a career, he discouraged me from going into teaching. 17 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:54,320 And I understood why. I saw how difficult it was for him to raise a family as a teacher. 18 00:01:54,320 --> 00:02:06,680 So instead, I went into business. But everything I've ever done, I've gravitated towards helping, mentoring, guiding, leading, training, teaching. 19 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:18,120 I started off with the Walt Disney Company, where I learned the art and science of customer service from the company that literally invented the field of customer service. 20 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:29,480 And would have rode off into retirement from the Walt Disney Company, except that they're in Orlando and my family is predominantly in Boston. 21 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:37,120 By family, I mean extended family, hundreds of family members. They all wouldn't just pick up and move down to Orlando. 22 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:46,000 Can you believe that? So instead, we moved back to the Boston area where I landed a job at the phone company. 23 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:53,840 And that's where I like to say I was tricked into my first sales job. 24 00:02:53,840 --> 00:03:02,840 It was advertised as a customer service role. But after six weeks of interviews, batteries of tests, 25 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:09,200 I still remember to this day, the HR representative on the line offering me the role. 26 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:13,680 She says, "Rob, we want to hire you as a customer service representative. 27 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:20,200 But please know, there is a sales quota with this." 28 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:33,680 I swallowed hard, but I took the job anyway. Up to that point, I had the same perception of sales that I would expect many of those listening right now have when it comes to sales. 29 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:39,000 Sales is icky! Sales is yucky! Sales is evil! 30 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:45,560 In customer service, we would say if sales didn't screw up somewhere, we wouldn't even need customer service. 31 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:50,680 What I've learned is I could not have been more wrong. 32 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:59,360 And what I've learned is the best sales job out there. 33 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:06,400 The best performers in sales would equate to nothing more than adequate customer service people. 34 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:13,800 And how does that relate to teaching? Because teaching and customer service are very much the same as well. 35 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:20,440 It's the same mindset. It's the same core drivers. We just want to help. 36 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:32,280 Great salespeople help. There are three things that you need to do to provide what I would consider adequate customer service, table stakes, customer service. 37 00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:36,680 You need to ask questions. You need to uncover the root cause issue. 38 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:42,560 And you need to provide solutions so that your customers can make an informed decision. 39 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:49,400 Teachers, great teachers do that, too. We ask questions. 40 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:54,920 We work with our students to uncover the root cause issue. 41 00:04:54,920 --> 00:05:00,080 And then we challenge our students to present solution. 42 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:09,720 There's just one more thing that outstanding salespeople do that most people in customer service cannot bring themselves to do. 43 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:18,360 And frankly, I can say this as a teacher as well, could not bring myself to do. Ask for the sale. 44 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:20,640 Yes, that's it. 45 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:26,600 I want to tell a quick story. When I was first hired at one of our local universities, 46 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:33,720 I had a very, very strong leadership team. But I remember that in one of our first faculty meetings, 47 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:40,800 the chair brought us into just while I was on Zoom at the time, but he brought us into our Zoom meeting room. 48 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:49,320 And he said that each of you are here as our faculty to play the part of the customer service representative. 49 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:54,960 And it was a metaphor that I had to wrap my head around. And I was trying to think about at the time, what does this mean for morale? 50 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:59,680 But I also kind of understood what he meant in terms of our interactions with students. 51 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:06,320 And I know that possibly our listeners may have heard this metaphor before that in education, 52 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:11,720 we have educators who are on the "front lines" of customer service reps. 53 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:18,640 And whether we agree with that or not, the metaphor is an open discourse that has existed for us to take in. 54 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:24,840 And I wanted to ask Rob for someone who is in the world of sales, can you help us break down that metaphor? 55 00:06:24,840 --> 00:06:32,400 And what exactly is the good that we would be attempting to sell as teachers in that type of model? 56 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:40,240 As I see it, teachers are not customer service representatives. Teachers are salespeople. 57 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:45,480 Because remember the difference between customer service and sales. 58 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:54,280 Customer service does three things, sales does four. And it's that fourth thing that salespeople do 59 00:06:54,280 --> 00:07:04,240 that make the most effective teachers. And I want to point to Dan Pink's To Sell as Human for a moment. 60 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:12,840 In that book, Dan says that these days, nine out of ten people are in sales. 61 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:20,920 Now, in his book, he more or less expands the definition of sales to mean influence. 62 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:26,840 Nine out of ten people need to influence someone else these days. 63 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:33,400 And that tenth person probably does as well. So if you take sales to mean influence, 64 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:39,440 I think your audience can absolutely relate to that. You stand in front of a classroom. 65 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:47,680 In my case, it was 10th grade geometry. How many have ever heard, when are we ever going to use this in life? 66 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:55,840 I have. Exactly. How many have ever said it? Now, pointing fingers, Joey, we'll just pass that one. 67 00:07:55,840 --> 00:08:05,480 But here I am trying to influence them to understand the importance of geometry. 68 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:15,840 Not just because I need you to know the Pythagorean theorem, not just because I want you to know how to solve groups, 69 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:23,720 but I need you to develop the logic that goes behind those things. 70 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:29,400 So it's my job to influence you, the students, to take that on. 71 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:34,800 How do you involve theorems in your day to day life anyway? 72 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:41,040 Well, have you ever driven to someplace and not known how to get there? 73 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:47,680 You use your GPS tool. Well, the GPS tool is very much like a theorem. 74 00:08:47,680 --> 00:08:54,080 It knows the start, it knows the end, and it figures out each piece in between, 75 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:58,360 generally starting with the end in mind and working your way backwards. 76 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:07,760 We do that very often in geometry. So there, I've just influenced my classroom to acknowledge that, 77 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:16,760 well, yeah, maybe I will use this in life. Teachers have three audiences, really, when it comes to influence. 78 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:22,240 They have their students, of course, which is a very challenging audience indeed. 79 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:28,000 A captive one, also. Absolutely. Yeah. If they are lucky. 80 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:36,600 And I want to emphasize this because I've worked in systems where it's been one extreme and I've worked in systems where it's been the other. 81 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:47,040 If they are lucky, teachers have the parental guardian audience to address as well. 82 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:57,520 And yes, I will grant you that parental involvement can sometimes be an extreme and be challenging in its own right. 83 00:09:57,520 --> 00:10:04,320 But you're lucky to have it because I've been in those systems where it's not part of the equation at all. 84 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:11,160 The third group that teachers need to influence is the administration. 85 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:15,720 Remember, they might be your boss, but they have bosses of their own as well. 86 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:28,400 And those bosses have bosses. And ultimately, the boss is the general public and the perception of the school system to the general public. 87 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:36,120 So we need to remember our audiences as we are speaking with them. 88 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:42,600 It's almost like the circle of life. And we're not really supposed to talk about this with students listening, but it is the truth. 89 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:47,600 We're supposed to teach to our students that our students are a product of their parents. 90 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:56,040 The parents are a product of who's influenced by, let's say, the superintendent and the school board, which in turn goes back to the function of the administration. 91 00:10:56,040 --> 00:11:03,880 And the course goes back down to the teachers. So in a way, it's almost like a circle of life again, where it's a food chain, where everyone is there to influence each other. 92 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:13,040 And if you break down the factor of that equation, ultimately, those that have quite a bit of power that they don't even realize that they have are indeed the students. 93 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:21,840 So we do want to make sure that we are selling to them as educators as best we can to make sure that they're communicating our goods and services effectively. 94 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:29,520 So tell us a bit more about the idea of a teacher as a salesperson. What is being sold within the model that you're sharing? 95 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:40,200 Again, if we're extending the definition of sales to mean influence, what are you trying to influence for your students? 96 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:45,080 Well, I could sit down and break down Shakespeare with them. 97 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:56,600 And there are absolutely applications beyond just high school when you talk about Shakespeare, just the common culture understanding. 98 00:11:56,600 --> 00:12:02,360 So to be a well-informed member of society, you need those types of things. 99 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:14,280 But that's not really going to influence the 17 year old. They could not care less about something that predates them by 300 years. 100 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:18,320 I could just walk into the room and say, "this is what I have to teach. 101 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:24,360 This is what you have to learn." And I could try and command influence. 102 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:32,560 It just doesn't work like that. Right. It might have in the past, but it certainly does not work like that now. 103 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:43,600 So let's get to why. Why are they even here? Well, they're required to by law. Sure, they are here, but they're giving you their attention. 104 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:47,840 Sometimes reluctantly, but sometimes enthusiastically. 105 00:12:47,840 --> 00:13:02,760 What you are trying to influence them on is not just the lesson itself, but learning how to learn, learning how to communicate, learning how to be a valued member of society. 106 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:09,000 And we can do that through geometry. We can do that through Shakespeare. We can do that through history. 107 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:21,040 I was a terrible history student in high school because I had teachers that did exactly what they were supposed to do as history teachers. 108 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:28,240 "Here's the textbook. We're going to have a test at the end of the week and then we'll work on the next chapter the next week and have another test again." 109 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:34,680 And I had no interest in reading about something that took place and had no impact on me. 110 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:41,000 My freshman year of college, I had a fantastic history teacher. 111 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:48,720 In fact, that teacher was so good, I regretted not paying better attention in my high school classes. 112 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:55,080 What that teacher did was he took literature from different periods. 113 00:13:55,080 --> 00:14:02,440 We were studying American history and we didn't have to read an entire book. 114 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:07,280 We read this chapter from this book and this chapter from this book. 115 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:19,240 And together, I learned about the stories of the period aligned with the textbook and the facts and figures of that period as well. 116 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:26,160 And it came to life for me. That's when I was sold. That's when I was influenced. 117 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:30,440 That's when I understood why history matters. 118 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:38,720 What we need to do as teachers is sell our audience on why what we're saying to them matters. 119 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:43,000 And it needs to matter for something more than, "well, this is going to be on the test." 120 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:50,200 And it needs to matter for more than something beyond, "well, this is how you get into college." 121 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,440 Sure, it is how you get into college. 122 00:14:53,440 --> 00:15:00,960 College is all about GPAs and SATs and ACTs and extracurricular and all of that great stuff. 123 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:14,040 But if you're not developing in them the ability to study, the eagerness to learn, you're probably doing them a disservice. 124 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:19,160 In some ways, I've just made the job of teaching exponentially harder. 125 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:28,520 In some ways, it becomes incredibly more enriching for all. 126 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:35,760 And that's what I love about teaching is when I can see the impact that I'm making. 127 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:46,920 That's a really powerful anecdote. And I love how you're saying that education comes from teachers trying to enrich students with learning how to learn and trying to connect two worlds together. 128 00:15:46,920 --> 00:16:00,440 And I know that when I'm teaching my literature courses as well, I always add some sort of trauma element not to exhaust the students and make my class this therapeutic discourse where emotions are always dripping into the center of the classroom. 129 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:11,880 That's not the intent at all, nor does that happen. But I say to my students, listen, when I was 18, 19, 20, I was on this fantasy that I'm going to have the perfect adulthood. 130 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:24,920 Everything will be wonderful. Everything will be fantastic. And then by the time I'm 23, the Stoneman Douglas shooting happens and impacts how I function in my first job the next year because I'm still dealing with the grief and the baggage from that. 131 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:33,640 And it caused a series of circumstances like that in terms of switching my mindset with attempting to build a trauma-based toolkit. 132 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:42,960 And I'm sure many other community survivors of trauma or community witnesses of trauma might be trying to develop the same or similar toolkit as well. 133 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:48,120 So I say to my students, "where you are today may not be where you are in five, ten years from now." 134 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:59,800 So I'm preparing them with the skills ahead of time to say that you now have this, as one student named it very nicely, a break the glass if needed sort of toolkit for after they exit the class. 135 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:04,840 And it's making me think about, because you mentioned it already, Rob, the Golden Rule versus the Platinum Rule. 136 00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:15,120 The Golden Rule, you say, is to treat others how you want to be treated. But the Platinum Rule is to treat others how they want to be treated. 137 00:17:15,120 --> 00:17:20,640 How does that Cardinal Rule influence us as educators within academic settings? 138 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:32,120 Absolutely. So the Golden Rule is what we all knew growing up. And lo and behold, the Golden Rule is just downright wrong. 139 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:37,800 The Golden Rule was great in a homogeneous environment. Treat others the way you want to be treated. 140 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:44,320 You're presuming everyone wants to be treated the way you want to be treated. You're presuming everyone is just like you. 141 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:53,240 And that's how we behaved. Everyone talks alike, eats alike, has the same style, has the same background. 142 00:17:53,240 --> 00:18:07,240 We were never a homogeneous society. We are a heterogeneous society with a multitude of backgrounds, all sorts of culture and tastes and so on. 143 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:16,800 So for me to treat you the way I want to be treated might work if it just so happens that Joey wants to be treated the way Rob wants to be treated. 144 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:23,360 But what if Joey wants to be treated the way Joey wants to be treated and it's not aligned? 145 00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:30,280 It's not necessarily dramatically different, but it's different and it should be respected. 146 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:40,200 So treating others the way they want to be treated is not only a better course, it is also more effective. 147 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:49,040 Because if I were treating you the way I want to be treated and it didn't align with the way you want to be treated, you'd probably just ignore it. 148 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:55,720 But if I'm treating you the way you want to be treated, you might not overtly be aware that I'm doing that. 149 00:18:55,720 --> 00:19:03,640 You might just be aligned to it because it is in line with your beliefs, your behaviors. 150 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:11,600 The challenge then becomes, well, how do I know how someone else wants to be treated? 151 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:23,480 I contend that the way we communicate to others is a strong indication of the way we want to be communicated to. 152 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:27,080 Some of us ask lots of questions. 153 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:31,160 Some of us prefer short statements. 154 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:38,560 If I can identify how you want to be communicated to and communicate to you in that way, 155 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:46,560 you are more likely to be receptive to my message because you're more likely to even just listen to it. 156 00:19:46,560 --> 00:20:00,080 Now, I'm not here to tell you in a classroom of 40, 50 students, you need to convey to them information in 40 or 50 different ways. 157 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:03,720 I realize that's not tenable. 158 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:12,120 I was in a math class once where I was responsible for teaching students where English was a second language. 159 00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:17,040 And it would see, well, you know, just speak to them in their native language. 160 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:21,240 For one thing, there were five different native languages in the classroom. 161 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:26,400 I need to speak to them in the way they want to be spoken to. 162 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:34,520 Students might not necessarily be receptive to long-winded answers. 163 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:43,800 Students may be more receptive to short questions where they come up with the responses. 164 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:48,120 Now, I will contend that that is my preferred teaching style. 165 00:20:48,120 --> 00:20:50,320 I prefer a Socratic classroom. 166 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:53,080 I like a lot of conversation going on. 167 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:59,560 High school students generally want to be seen and not heard. 168 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:05,560 Now, I realize that's a generalization and there's an exception for every rule. 169 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:18,040 But if my preferred method is to have students speak, but their preferred method is to just be lectured to, one of us is not going to get our way. 170 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:21,640 Right. So that's what I mean by the platinum rule. 171 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:29,400 Identify how your audience best receives information and then convey it to them in that way. 172 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:31,600 In a classroom setting, it's more challenging. 173 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:34,880 It's absolutely meeting them halfway. 174 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:42,440 As I was saying, in a classroom setting, it can be more challenging because there are multiple personalities all at once. 175 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:56,720 But even on a one-on-one conversation, when we go back to how are you influencing, how are you selling to those parents, how are you selling to that administrator, 176 00:21:56,720 --> 00:22:03,080 convey what you need to convey to them in the way that they best receive information. 177 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:08,400 And I guess the most important mindset to think about with that is just keeping flexible mindset. 178 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:14,160 And I was thinking about that as well when it comes to treating others how they want to be treated. 179 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:24,400 What can you say in terms of helping out teachers with classroom management and maybe even communicating with their administration, what that means for them in those scenarios? 180 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:31,960 So administration, for example, I can talk to them about the situation I had in the classroom. 181 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:37,720 I had this student, it was challenging, and I ended up I sent them down to the principal's office. 182 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:43,520 That's fine. Sometimes you just need to get off of your chest what you need to get off of your chest. 183 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:55,480 If I am putting myself in their shoes, now I'm thinking of the principal who received this student, 184 00:22:55,480 --> 00:23:06,920 I need to try and remember what it is that they are dealing with and how they can best address it. 185 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:21,840 So I might send that student down to the classroom, but it turns out the administrators are held accountable for the number of students that are not in their designated classrooms at a given time, 186 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:27,880 whether that's detentions, suspensions or whatever the case may be, 187 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:35,840 the metrics that they're held accountable by might not be aligned with what I'm advocating for. 188 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:49,720 I need to remember these things and I need to figure out how to convey to my administrator that this particular situation, yes, might not be ideal for your metrics, 189 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:56,920 but it's because I'm aware of your metrics that I do not make a regular habit of this. 190 00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:02,880 And that's why when it does happen, I expect your full support behind it. 191 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:10,680 And then we can work on solutions for mitigating future incidents like this with those students as well. 192 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:18,200 So it sounds like this cardinal rule is really working to strengthen partnerships between people in all roles and dynamics, which I think is great. 193 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:22,480 And I think that leads us to the conversations about what you're currently doing as well. 194 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:30,400 So Rob, I wanted you to talk to us a little bit about your text, "The Social Enablement Blueprint, Stop Pitching, Start Selling." 195 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:32,480 Sure. Thank you for asking. 196 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:36,800 I wrote a book. I published it and it came out last June. 197 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:44,160 The idea behind it is to help, well, predominantly salespeople because that's who I work with. 198 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:48,440 But really, it's not specific to salespeople. 199 00:24:48,440 --> 00:25:00,400 It's designed to help anybody who's interested in leveraging social media not to become the next influencer, but to have influence. 200 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:05,160 I want to connect with more people in my profession. 201 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:10,440 I know that a LinkedIn profile can help me do that. 202 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:12,000 That's how we met. 203 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,680 Exactly. But I don't know where to begin. I don't know what to do. 204 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:21,280 I'm overwhelmed by it. And frankly, everyone else out there is better at it than me. 205 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:26,920 With this Social Enablement Blueprint, it's teaching you three basic principles. 206 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:32,240 Be approachable, be sociable, and be generous. 207 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:42,160 If you are somebody who is approachable on social media, if you are willing to strike up conversations on social media, 208 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:52,280 and if you are there to give, not sell, but give, give freely, give generously, give back to the community, 209 00:25:52,280 --> 00:26:02,280 whether that's on LinkedIn, whether that's on Twitter, it doesn't matter where you choose to engage with your peers, 210 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:11,760 with your chosen community, that's the key to success is be there, be present, be helpful. 211 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:15,720 What Rob is attesting is that in order to broaden our circles, 212 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:23,880 we just need to be approachable and know that there are others even beyond just our four walls and our own schools that can help us feel successful in our workspace. 213 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:27,920 Mostly in part because teachers are not islands. 214 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:38,080 That's one of the greatest things about the teaching community is their support for each other and their generosity towards each other. 215 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:43,800 By being an active member of your community, where your community is most active, 216 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:52,560 you are setting yourself up for opportunities that you cannot even foresee right now. 217 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,720 Joey, as you said, you and I met through LinkedIn. 218 00:26:55,720 --> 00:27:01,680 Neither of us had the intent of seeking the other out. 219 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:10,600 I did not say, "hmm, I wonder which education podcasts I could guest on this week." 220 00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:17,960 And Joey, I don't think that you thought, "well, I wonder which sales leaders could I connect with?" 221 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:22,800 We happen to connect. We happen to have a great conversation. 222 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:27,720 And we saw some opportunities where not only is there overlap between the things that we do, 223 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:32,840 but there's overlap between the audiences that we engage with regularly. 224 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:35,880 And that's what brought this about. 225 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:43,080 That alone proves the entire point of your text and what you authored to our audiences through the ability to network and be approachable. 226 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:46,360 We can always grow our circle of influence as well. 227 00:27:46,360 --> 00:27:52,720 So, Rob, what would be one takeaway that you're looking to have our guests come away with from our conversation today? 228 00:27:52,720 --> 00:28:03,640 I would say this. There's a lot of gurus out there telling you do this, don't do that, don't do this, do that. 229 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:12,000 Find your own path. 80 percent of success in life is just about showing up. 230 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:24,040 Show up regularly. Contribute in the way that you best can and be a part of something without any ulterior motive. 231 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:30,640 You won't need one. Opportunities will find you once you start putting yourself out there. 232 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:38,080 Definitely. And what we've also heard from other speakers as well is that the authentic value that we want to offer matters the most. 233 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:43,520 Just being true to ourselves and authentic to our work is what's going to bring other people on board. 234 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:47,240 Absolutely. So, Rob, thank you again for joining us on the podcast today. 235 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:59,200 And I hope that our listeners can see that the idea of selling is more about inspiring than leadership, business and even just everyday conversation in order to become the best influencer possible. 236 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:03,440 So, of course, if you enjoyed what you heard, go ahead and subscribe and keep the conversation going. 237 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:07,280 And until next time, remember that your stories matter. 238 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,520 Thank you very much, Joey. It's been a great experience. 239 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:14,800 Thank you for joining us on the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education podcast. 240 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:19,480 If today's episode inspired you or made you think differently, I'd love to hear from you. 241 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:28,240 Drop a comment or review wherever you listen to podcasts and stay connected with us on the at Classroom Narratives podcast over Instagram and Facebook. 242 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:35,280 Remember, together we can transform our scars into stars in education, one conversation at a time.