March 24th, 2008 Yashar
For my 21st birthday my roommates in California bought me the book “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazi. The book is basically about the importance of networking. Before I got passed the first 20 pages of the book my brother snagged it from me and I haven’t been able to get it back from him since, however to show you how great of a book this is, in just the first 20 pages I was inspired by the following pieces of wisdom:
- “Poverty, I realized, wasn’t only a lack of financial resources; it was isolation from the kind of people that could help you make more of yourself.”
- “Business is a human enterprise, driven and determined by people.”
- “Real networking is about finding ways to make other people successful. It was about working hard to give people more than you get.”
- “I’ll sum up the key to success in one word: generosity.”
- “He thought of relationships as finite, like a pie that can only be cut into so many pieces. Take a piece away, and there was that much less for him. I knew, however, that relationships are more like muscles - the more you work them the stronger they become.”
- “It’s better to give before you receive.”
- “Contribute. It’s like Miracle-Gro for networks. Give your time, money and expertise to growing your community of friends.”
- “The more specific you are about what you want to do, the easier it becomes to develop a strategy to accomplish it.”
- “No one becomes an astronaut by accident.”
- “A goal is a dream with a deadline.”
I can’t wait to finish reading this book.
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Posted in Knowledge, Networking, Quotes | No Comments »
February 18th, 2008 Yashar
I apologize for not blogging frequently the last week. I was in the midst of midterms and working on a few larger projects.
One of the most fundamental aspects of starting a business I was introduced to was having the right people sit around the business table. You don’t want anyone around the table that doesn’t belong and whoever is there needs to be the best you can find. Donald Trump is a strong believer in this as well, and here’s what he says in his book The Art of the Deal:
“Very simple rule when it comes to management: hire the best people from your competitors, pay them more than they were earning, and give them bonuses and incentives based on their performance. That’s how you build a first class operation.”
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Posted in Management, Networking | No Comments »
February 11th, 2008 Yashar
So Bill is coming again to Waterloo. This time to speak about the social importance of technology. It would be interesting to attend this since our 4th year design project hints on the topic of social networking. Only 100 engineering students are able to attend and we need to provide a reason why we think we should be allowed to attend.
However, too bad we’ll probably be in Montreal then celebrating reading week!
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Posted in Networking, Rich People | No Comments »
February 6th, 2008 Yashar
After taking a Speech Communication course at university last semester where we were required to present 3 speeches (an informative, persuasive and entertaining speech) I truly appreciate a powerful public speaker. I learned more in that single course about the real world than any of my engineering courses. Below are excerpts from the famed professor Patrick Henry Winston’s lecture this semester. For more detailed notes please visit here.
How to Start
Some advice for starting your talk.
- Don’t start with a joke. The audience is not accustomed to you or your speaking style yet. Humor will be difficult at this point.
- Do start with a menu. Tell them exactly what you’ll be speaking about and in what order.
- Do provide an empowerment promise. Explain why your audience will come away from the talk better than when they entered.
The Big Four
A collection of four heuristics that make a talk work.
- Cycling. Deliver ideas first in brief, then in detail, then in summary. To use the lingo of artificial intelligence: let your audience load the schema, then fill in the details, then let them know what’s worth indexing for future reference.
- Verbal Punctuation. Provide a mechanism to help people who “fogged out” to easily rejoin the talk. For example: “We have just finished talking about the first heuristic, cycling, I am now going to talk about the second heuristic for helping to make your talks more interesting…”
- Near Miss. When explaining an idea, also describe other ideas that are close but not quite the same. This will help people understand what the important points are that define your idea.
- Ask Rhetorical Questions. Don’t make them too easy. Don’t make them too hard. Wait 6 seconds for an answer.
The Tools
Four tools that can make or break your presentation.
- Time and Place. If it’s in your control: mid-morning is the best time. Choose a location that will look full with your expected audience size. Make sure it is well-lit. Don’t let them turn down the lights. (“It’s easier to see slides in a light room then to seem them through closed eyelids.”)
- The Board. A blackboard lets you draw natural graphics that highlight your points. It also paces you. The speed of writing matches the speed with which people process information. Use a logo that captures the main point and that you can return to. (“I once saw a Sloan professor lecture for a whole hour about a triangle; it was amazing!”) It also provides a target. The best thing to do with your hands? Point at things on the board.
- Slides. Don’t use anything less than 24-point type. If you can’t fit the information at this font size then you have too much. Follow these four rules:
- Don’t read the slides! “A special circle in hell for those who…”
- Don’t stand far away from the screen. This requires divided attention from your audience.
- Have one meaningful picture per slide. If it’s found in Microsoft’s clip art gallery, it’s not meaningful.
- No pointers. Laser or otherwise. These are distractions. You’ll play with them. They’re annoying. Stand by the screen and point with your hand or refer to visual anchors on the slide.
- Props. When possible, use a prop to illustrate an idea.
…and more of the lectures notes here.
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Posted in Entrepreneurship, Networking | No Comments »
February 4th, 2008 Yashar
Over the next little while you can expect me to be blogging frequently about the importance of networking. Although this may be a familiar concept to most of you, I don’t think it’s emphasized enough. We’ve all heard the phrase “It’s not what you know, It’s who you know” and more and more I see that as true.
Here’s an excerpt from Donald Trump’s - The Art of the Deal about a particular hotel owner ’s charisma (I can’t remember who he refers to exactly):
“He’ll know everyone’s name, he’ll remember their families, he’ll kiss the chef, tell the porter he’s doing a great job, say hello to the lifegaurds and the maids, by the time he leaves an hour later, everyone feels 10 feet tall…”
You may ask, where’s the networking in this? Networking doesn’t mean only talking to the CEO’s and the business owners or the people who can be of value to you at the present time. It means being nice and talking to everybody. You never know when the relationship bridges you build will pay off.
Look forward to more posts about networking…
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