Keeping the Wolves at Bay: Media Training by Jonathan Bernstein

It seems that every time we turn on the news, there is a new scandal. It may be a celebrity marriage on the rocks, a fading star in trouble again with the law, a politician being accused of breaking the law or international companies dealing with a catastrophic disaster – all these people have one thing in common. They need to handle the crisis and that means handling the media. What better resource to understand the process than a crisis management expert.

Who hasn’t had an interview that they feel like they messed something up? Even when the interview is about good news or positive things, it is still possible and likely that something won’t go “right”. So, imagine the possibility of saying something wrong if it is bad news or a crisis.

I really like how this book goes through every step and its easy to understand. That does not mean is overly simplified – but you can go into this book with limited know how and understand how media and interviews work.

We have all seen people that are very skilled with the media and who give awesome interviews. Let’ be serious – most people aren’t like that naturally, but YOU can learn how to handle the media and how to give a great interview, even in a crisis.

Bernstein takes you into the mind of the media – it is beneficial to you to understand the person and the mentality they bring to an interview. I love that he moves into talking about how important attitude is – and keep that in mind as you learn about the conundrums of media relations. Before you start an interview – check out page 25 and go through the pre-interview relaxation exercises. I know that any time I have an interview, I’m a nervous wreck for a little while – but as soon as I can relax, the interview goes fine. This was something I have had to do whether I’m interviewing someone or if I am being interviewed.

The Three C’s of Crisis Communication: Compassion, Competence and Confidence.  He gives us the awesome example of Rudy Giuliani on and after 9-11. Who doesn’t remember his composure, how he communicated with the people and the media, we saw his compassion and his passion about the situation and finally, we saw his quiet confidence in this unimaginable disaster. Who of us could handle that situation with those same qualities?

We dig into how to talk with saying a word. We reveal so much by the way we stand, how we hold our arms, our eyes and expressions and so much more. Look over this section and I would recommend practicing in a mirror. Once you have your presentation down pat – review the section about delivering your message.

If you aren’t already convinced that you need to read this book – you only need to peak at pages 34 to 37, where you will get the 15 Keys to Media Interviews. This section should be made into crib notes to take with you to an interview.

When you are in a crisis – honestly, you need to be prepared for tough questions. That makes the “Guidelines for Confrontational Interviews” and “Question Turnaround” sections critical. How many times have you gotten a question and you cannot think of any way to make your answer sound positive? This section helps you learn how to turn any question to your advantage. This is only the beginning, these are the headings for each chapter in Keeping the Wolves at Bay: Media Training:

• A New Way of Thinking About Media Relations
• Understand the Media
• Getting Ready to be Interviewed
• Media Tactics – Dancing the Dance
• Media Logistics
• Practice Makes… Better
• Special Circumstances

You will also learn details about radio, print and television interviews – this book gives details about all elements of how to handle the media in an interview and especially in a crisis situation. Also, think about how a normal interview can turn into a crisis if you don’t handle the interview right? In the age of YouTube, how many people have said something they regretted in an interview, only to find out that it’s the latest hit on YouTube. Do yourself and your business a huge favor, invest in positive media relationships – by buying this book today. Jonathan Bernstein is the owner of Bernstein Crisis Management and he proves in the pages of this book, why he is the man to call when you have a crisis. In the mean time, read this book and prepare yourself on how to deal with media interviews and keep Jonathan’s number in your rolodex when things hit crisis mode.  Now it is time for me to go back and read the book again – there is far too much information to absorb all the suggestion and details the first time you read this book.

Women’s Millionaire Club by Maureen G Mulvaney, MGM

Many people own home based businesses and in these tough economic times – many more people will launch home based businesses. Some people do very well with their own business – while others never make a decent living. What is the difference? Are there things they could learn that would make them more successful? This book contains a wealth of information that was compiled by interviewing some very successful women who run home based businesses and who are network marketing professionals. What do they have to offer you?

Maureen G Mulvaney is the founder of the Women’s Millionaire Club. She has all sorts of tools to help you succeed in network marketing – and this book is one of those tools. Maureen goes by the nickname MGM and she is an international speaker and a best selling author.

In the first part of this book, MGM shares “The Recipe for Success” and the “History of Network Marketing”.  She then explains the “home based business” concept and how it works today. Next she shares the demographics and her survey results for the women in the Women’s Millionaire Club. This gives you a great picture of the type of women who are making millionaires from their home based network marketing businesses.

MGM also delves deeply into the personality traits of these women. This is a step to get inside the head of these women. Then she turns the spotlight back on the reader by saying to “Know What You Want” and “Believe You Can Have It”. These are critical steps – no matter what these women can accomplish – you have to believe you can do it and be resolved in what you want. Obviously the next step is to “Take Action”.

Once she has given you the details about what she learned about these successful women and what MGM can share about network marketing – its time to read the profiles that were developed after detailed interviews with each of these women.

Each profile includes a combination of this information about each of these women:

• Her Background

• Her Decision to Succeed

• The Benefits to Being a Woman

• Her Ingredients for Success

• Why She Did It

• Her Legacy

• Her Strengths

If you want a successful home based network marketing business – this is a must read. It takes you inside the minds, hearts and motivations of these 20 women and gives you a great set of tools to succeed.

Heart of Marketing by Judith Sherven and Jim Sniechowski

Customer service and really good customer service seems to be a thing of the past in many businesses. When I was growing up – my grandfather reinforced the importance of stellar customer service to me and that lesson has served me very well of the last two decades.  This book explains how to put “heart” back into our businesses and our marketing.

The full title of this book is Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back.

This book is made up of the answers to 45 questions about the “soft sell marketing” concept. There were MANY questions submitted, but Judith and Jim narrowed it down to 45 questions and share the answers with all of us in Heart of Marketing.

Some of the topics include:

• What is Marketing?

• What is the primary benefit of soft sell marketing?

• How does soft sell marketing differ from hard sell?

• People say to succeed you have to get your ego out of the way. What does that mean?

• When creating soft sell marketing messages, which words reassure and establish a relationship quickly?

• Do you use “urgency” or “scarcity” in soft sell marketing?

• How do I sell without making a nuisance of myself?

• How can you close a sale without pushing too far?

• How do I train my brain to realize its ok to ask for the sale because what I am offering is of value of them and not just money for me?

• What are the pitfalls of soft sell marketing?

• How do I measure the success of soft sell marketing?

These are just a few of the questions that are included in Heart of Marketing.

Are you the type of business person or sales person who has a hard time with the traditional hard sell approach? You NEED to read this book. I learned long ago that you can make the sale and succeed with using hard sell techniques. This book takes that premise and walks you through the soft sell process. Even if you like the “hard sell” – you can learn valuable tips from this book and you may find ideas that you can incorporate into your current selling techniques. It could help you take your current success to a much higher level.

Are you an entrepreneur and business owner who wants their sales people to use the soft sell sales approach? You need to recommend this book to your sales team or better yet – buy copies for them and help them learn how to love your customers – your business will reap the benefits.  I worked with Judith and Jim on the campaign that helped them reach Amazon Best Seller status – now you can find out what all the excitement was about – and learn the soft sale tips that made this book a best seller.

136 Effective Presentation Tips by Tony Jeary and David Cottrell

In these tough economic times we should all be on the lookout for ways to make ourselves stand out in business – in a good way. Being able to step up on the job and to create and do an effective presentation is a great way to make ourselves stand out. Are you an entrepreneur who does presentations for your business? Are you a sales person who does presentations for clients? Are you a speaker who speaks in front of crowds on a regular basis and you want to stay at the top of your game? Are you in a business and you want to advance and impress your boss? All of these people can use the information in this book.

This is one of the smallest books I’ve read lately – but its packed with great information. One the very first page it says:

Greatest Fears Among Americans

1. Speaking before a group
2. Heights
3. Insects and bugs
4. Financial problems
5. Deep water
6. Sickness
7. Death

— from The Book of Lists

Okay – I’m in agreement with most of that list. Although I’ve been speaking in front of groups since I was young. However, I realize that most people don’t have that background and even with all that experience, I’m still nervous before I start to speak. So,  I was intrigued with this book. I was also curious to see how much they could squeeze into about 45 pages.

First – the full title is

136 Effective Presentation Tips: Inspire, Inform & Influence Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime

The table of contents gives us a glimpse inside –

Tips on Getting Started

– Moving From Nervous to Natural

– Getting Your Act Together

Tips on Getting Attention

– Beginning Strong

– Setting the Tone

Tips on Keeping Attention

– Involving the Audience

– Maximizing Visual Aids

—– Powerpoint

—– Flip Charts

—–Presentation readiness

—– Handouts

Tips on Gaining Buy In

– Earning the Right to Call for Action

– The Summary and Closing

A Closing Thought

All the important elements are here – so does the book deliver. I think it does. Under each heading, there are a series of tips and an explanation to implement the tip. Near the very beginning they tell us not to apologize for being nervous. How many times have you or someone you heard started a presentation like that? First point, don’t apologize.

There is a great chart that is called the 3-D outline. It very simply and clearly outlines what, why and how to execute each part of the presentation AND how long each segment should be. Its very simple and very powerful. That chart is worth buying this book.

We learn how to take control of the environment — the tips are very easy to implement, but they work. Tips to reduce your stress – physical and psychological stress. We get the Top Ten Ways to Kill a Presentation. How many times have you wanted to hand that to a presenter when they were finished? These are great tips and I’ve seen people do most of these in past presentations. There are even tips for virtual presentations.

Like I mentioned this is a small book, but I’d highly recommend it to anyone who does presentations or may need to do a presentation in the future. Its a quick read, easy to go back to for reminders and packed with great tips. Do yourself a favor and order a copy of this book and study it from cover to cover before your next or your first presentation.

There is order information in the back of this book – which I’ll share here.

Cornerstone Leadership

P O Box 764087

Dallas, TX 75376

www.cornerstoneleadership.com

Emotional Freedom by Dr Judith Orloff

There are many people who are facing a wide variety of stresses, discouragements, disappointments and other events and situations that take an emotional toll on their lives. Sadly, many people feel there isn’t much they can do to help themselves, their loved ones or their business associates who are having a tough time. Or, they feel that medication is the only answer. I’m the sort of person who avoids medication as much as possible, so I’m always on the lookout for other alternatives. I’m also a person who is very concerned about friends and associates who are emotionally fragile or who find themselves in difficult and trying situations. We all know people who have more than the usual problems in their lives. So – what can we do to help them?

When we know people who are stressed, discouraged, depressed, dealing with a very heavy load of problems, how can we help them? This is something I think about as I see friends and family members facing a wide array of problems and especially in these tough economic times. We also see people who reach out to help others and many that can take a toll on their own mental, emotional and physical well being.

For years I looked for a way to be more optimistic in my personal life – but also in business.  There were many “outside” sources that pulled me down and I just had no idea what to do to feel better about myself, my situation and much more. While I still had to work 40-60 hours a week, these personal concerns made my work schedule even more tedious. I know this is something other people deal with every day and especially entrepreneurs who have even more stress in their businesses. So, how can we balance these lives and get our emotional balance and emotional freedom – to move ourselves, our families and our businesses to a higher level?

My first suggestion is that you need to read Dr Judith Orloff’s latest book, Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life. I love that title and especially “liberate yourself from negative emotions”. If we can deal with the negatives in our lives – so many things are within our grasp. I’m not just saying that – I experienced it a few years ago and it is amazing what has happened in a very positive way since that time. I wish I’d had this book – it would’ve made my transformation easier and it is a transformation.

This is the table of contents for Emotional Freedom by Dr Judith Orloff

Introduction. Emotional Freedom: The Secret to Serenity

Part One
1. The Path to Emotional Freedom: Beginning to Learn to Love
2. Four Practical Secrets to Empowering Your Emotional Life
3. Dreams and Sleep: Accessing Revolutionary States of Consciousness
4. From Intellectuals to Empaths: What Is Your Emotional Type?
5. Combating Emotional Vampires: How to Understand and Protect Your Sensitivity

Part Two
6. The First Transformation: Facing Fear, Building Courage
7. The Second Transformation: Facing Frustration and Disappointment, Building Patience
8. The Third Transformation: Facing Loneliness, Building Connection
9. The Fourth Transformation: Facing Anxiety and Worry, Building Inner Calm
10. The Fifth Transformation: Facing Depression, Building Hope
11. The Sixth Transformation: Facing Jealousy and Envy, Building Self-Esteem
12. The Seventh Transformation: Facing Anger, Building Compassion
Afterword. Living in Service to the Heart: The Blessing of Emotional Freedom

The Secret to Serenity – what a great way to start this book. Who couldn’t use more serenity in their lives.  I’ve thought about what was necessary to find emotional freedom and I know the steps I took and Dr Orloff touches on all of them and some that I didn’t use — yet. I love the first sentence in chapter one – “Your life is about to get better”. Who doesn’t want to hear that about their own life?

Dr Orloff takes you through her experience with emotional freedom and shows what she had to do. This isn’t like taking a pill, which is only a temporary fix or a band aid. This system that she lays out – step by step – is a very attainable way to change your life and to make it more serene, more peaceful, more fulfilling and much more.

Learn your emotional type – every one has an emotional type and once you understand yourself, you can learn about significant others in your life and how to better deal with them. Some years ago I was a hospital department supervisor and every employee took a personality assessment. Then the administrators brought all supervisors in for a meeting to reveal the results. It sounded like a waste or time, but this assessment showed each of us our emotional type and then explained the emotional type for all of the employees who reported to us.

You may wonder what good that would do. Its simple, by understanding our emotional type and our leadership type – we could better understand how we managed our departments and employees. That was powerful – but add a profile of the emotional makeup of each employee. This information showed what they needed from us and how we could adjust our style to get more from the employees. Imagine the change in your business and your life when you learn the best way to deal with family, friends, employees – and anyone else. At that meeting, we all thought about how powerful this test would be for our personal lives and now we have that ability through Dr Orloff’s book – and much more.

There are so many great aspects to this book that I could go on and on, but I’ll two other things that I’ve recommended to many friends and family. Chapter 5 is invaluable to anyone who deals with an “emotional vampire”. You may call it something else, but it’s the people who seem to suck the energy out of you and the room. We can’t always eliminate those people from our lives, so Dr Orloff gives step by step instructions and quizzes to help us deal with the people who drain our emotions and energy.

Part Two gives us the “Tools For Liberation”. In this section, Dr Orloff gives us all the tools to transform our lives. She helps us face: fear, frustration, loneliness, anxiety, depression, jealousy, and anger. Who couldn’t benefit from learning to face even one of these problems?

I can’t recommend this book highly enough for any facing problems. Even if you feel you’re on solid emotional ground, there are things in this book that will help you. And, like me, I bet you will find many family, friends and business acquaintances that you will recommend the book to. I bought copies as gifts for a number of close friends- that’s how much I value them and the content of this book.

A Special Offer For You From Judith Orloff, MD

To purchase “Emotional Freedom” with 100 free gifts from noted transformational leaders such as Dr. Christiane Northrup, Dr. Michael Beckwith, Dr. Bruce Lipton, Shirley Maclaine and more go to: http://www.drjudithorloff.com/emotional-freedom-promotion.

Young Guns by Robert Tuchman

Young Guns: TheFearless Entrepreneur’s Guide too Chasing Your Dreams and Breaking Out on Your Own by Robert Tuchman

Part of the American Dream is to own your own business. Millions of people have done this – but we also know that many people fail in business every year, many in the first years. So, is there a secret to succeeding as a new entrepreneur? There are a number of factors and Young Guns by Robert Tuchman is a very good place to get started.

Anyone who is in business for themselves knows that there are many things that make a difference in the success or failure of any business. I’ve managed businesses for over 20 years for a wide variety of business owners and usually I was hired to reorganize and fix struggling businesses. This gives me a unique perspective in the qualities and decisions that make a successful entrepreneur. So, I was very interested to read Young Guns and to see what Robert Tuchman had to say.

I cringe every time I hear someone say “All you need is a great idea and you’ll be a success.” I was participating in a writer’s conference symposium for business authors and the man beside me said that and I had to chime in and disagree. It made for an awkward hour – but it had to be said. So, I opened this book and waited to see if the author would say that. I’m very glad to report that he did not.

I was very glad that the first chapter is titled “Why Not Me?” What a great way to start the book? It made me even happier when I looked at the table of contents and found “The Idea” was chapter 3. This is the table of contents.

• Chapter 1 – Why Not Me?
• Chapter 2 – The Decision.
• Chapter 3 – The Idea.
• Chapter 4 – The First Test and The First Plan.
• Chapter 5 – The Partner Principle.
• Chapter 6 – Gut Check: Getting Started.
• Chapter 7 – Priorities for That First All-Consuming Year.
• Chapter 8 – You Are the Company.
• Chapter 9 – Technology: Our Generation’s Great Equalizer.
• Chapter 10 – Service is What You’re Selling.
• Chapter 11 – Back Up Your Sell.
• Chapter 12 – Inside Players: Your Team.
• Chapter 13 – Celebrate Failure, Reward Success.
• Chapter 14 – Your Vendor Relationships Matter.
• Chapter 15 – By The Numbers.
• Chapter 16 – Why Not You?

Robert Tuchman tells the reader to be sure that it is really a big idea. Just being excited about an idea isn’t enough and many times we hear that its only important to find something that the market needs. While these are all elements of a successful idea – Tuchman says that its also important to find something that you are truly interested in. This proves that my “big idea” probably wouldn’t be your “big idea”.

I’ve always said that people should never make the decision to start a business without putting together a business plan. This can be daunting, but its also very revealing. In Young Guns, Tuchman provides a simple game plan to help the aspiring entrepreneur get started. This is not a complete and in depth business plan, but it is enough to help you get started and to evaluate your idea to see if its feasible.

There is a chapter about business partners. Should you have one? If so, what sort of person should you choose? The right or wrong decision about a business partner can have a huge impact on your business and your life.

He talks in depth about service – just selling a product or service is not enough. You need to back up your product or service with great customer service. As I was told years ago by my grandfather – great customer service guarantees you have customers and without customers you won’t have a business.

These are just a few of the things I really enjoyed about Young Guns and I highly recommend it for a person who is considering starting their own business. This is a book that you can and should read before you have an idea – it could even spark a great business idea and he will also help you develop the skills you need to launch a business.

Transforming Power by Hugh Ballou

Transforming Power by Hugh Ballou

Hugh Ballou has over 40 years of experience as a choir director and has worked with small organizations and large organizations. I believe the largest had 12,000 members. Now, you may be asking yourself what a choir director knows about transforming power and how he can help entrepreneurs. That’s an interesting story.

As I’ve spoken with Hugh Ballou and as I read some of the articles and his book, it became very clear to me that the situations he faced with the choir members, the religious structure and the members of the congregations often reflect the situations we face in business. This is especially true when we talk about implementing change in any type of organization. This experience has given him a unique perspective when he deals with businesses and other organizations that need to make changes.

First, some detail about the structure of Transforming Power. The book was compiled by collecting personal experiences from over twenty different people who experienced a transformational change. Hugh Ballou hand picked the people that are included and asked the people to share a transformational story that would be beneficial and that would inspire others. Those stories are included in this book.

I looked up a couple of definition for “transformational change” –

A shift in the business culture of an organization resulting from a change in the underlying strategy and processes that the organization has used in the past. A transformational change is designed to be organization-wide and is enacted over a period of time. – www.businessdictionary.com

A qualitative change and an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another. – www.thefreedictionary.com

In the introduction, Hugh Ballou reminds us that each of us see the transformation from our own perspective and so each experience that is shared in the book, is told from that person’s perspective. There are interesting consistencies throughout the book that help illustrate how the need for transformational change can be a universal situation. Each story inspires and encourages leaders to begin the transformational process within their organization. This enables you, the reader, to begin to make a difference for the people who work with you and to the organization as a whole.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that people see “leadership” in many different ways. However, this is not talking about someone who was just put in charge of a group. A leader is much more than a manager or supervisor. A true leader accepts the challenge to help the people they lead. Our leadership can also help other people learn how to lead and to create a more positive and encouraging environment. The first step in this process is to realize if we need to make a change in ourselves. How can we honestly ask others to make a change, if we’re unwilling to make changes first?

There are key qualities that all transformational leaders should have. They include:

Sharing responsibilities.

Promoting creativity.

Clearly defining goals.

Effectively delegate to others.

Coach others in an effective way.

Celebrate accomplishments within the group and/or the organization.

Provide knowledge and education where needed.

Value the individuals in the group and/or organization.

Be a model of leadership.

A true leader can be a very powerful and encouraging person. However, something interesting that stood out to me as I read the book was that each story showed us some concern, vulnerability, fear etc. We each have concerns about change and especially major changes. The people who contributed to this project showed us those very human traits. I found it encouraging to realize those traits are common in this sort of situation.

Several of the experiences showed how people tell us they want change, but once the change begins, we see another side to them. It’s important to understand that sometimes they want a change that will make things better for them. Change is one of those times when you will experience growing pains – or we could call them changing pains. Any change will bring some difficulties within the process and as the change is happening. True and lasting change takes time and a transformational leader needs to be prepared for the complete journey.

As a leader is leading the group through a change, they have the opportunity to create a “community” feel and approach to the project. This community atmosphere has the power to create a synergy that is very beneficial to the change that is happening and the people who are involved. It isn’t productive to approach these changes in a dictatorial way. Leading and using the community approach is much more effective and lasting than a dictatorial approach. The community attitude also allows others to step up and be involved in many aspects of the changes that are being made.

Effective communication, delegation and planning are key to a change. When you begin a change, do you communicate the ideas? Do you find qualified people for delegated responsibilities? Are thorough plans developed to assist the change go smoothly? These things help the change process. There may be problems along the way, but leaders who take these initial steps have a higher chance for success.

All these points are illustrated very effectively in Transforming Power. A number of the examples relate to church situations and I enjoyed reading how effectively these approaches and techniques can be used in any organizational situation. Is your group or organization in need of change? This is a book you must read and you will be able to apply many of the examples that are included in your business, church or organization. For a special offer during August 2008, visit www.transforming-power.com.

NOTE – For more details about Hugh Ballou – visit www.hughballou.com. Book information available at http://www.amazon.com/Transforming-Power-Transformational-Encouragement-Inspiration/dp/0881775312 For full tour details, visit http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/06/transforming-power-virtual-tour-with.html

A SPECIAL BONUS TO EACH PERSON WHO PURCHASES TRANSFORMING POWER TODAY – Hugh Ballou has compiled a list of great FREE bonus gifts for anyone who purchases Transforming Power today. To see a sample of the items that are being given away, visit http://www.transforming-power.com. Just buy a copy of Transforming Power, return to this page and click to submit your invoice number to receive the web page link to download all of these gifts for FREE.

Nikki Leigh – Author, Publicist and Tour Coordinator

www.nikkileigh.com – Book Promo 101: Learn the Basics of Book Promotion