Featured Guest

Deborah Tannen is Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University and author of many books and articles about how the language of everyday conversation affects relationships. Her book You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, was on the New York Times Best Seller list for nearly 4 years, including 8 months as No. 1, and has been translated into 30 languages. Her book Talking from 9 to 5, a New York Times business best seller, does for the workplace what her earlier book did for personal relationships. Her newest book, You Were Always Mom’s Favorite!: Sisters in Conversation throughout Their Lives, is also a New York Times best seller. Deborah Tannen has appeared on such shows as 20/20, Oprah!, Today, Good Morning America, and NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered. She has been featured in or written for most major magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, Newsweek, Time, People, The Washington Post, and The Harvard Business Review.
Listen to the March 16, 2010 show, or visit our VoiceAmerica archive to hear any of our previous shows.

In the interview, Toddi talks about how important it is for women as a group to become more visible in the media. Visibility in the media supports and contributes to women’s leadership initiatives across all industries and government. The White House Project’s Benchmarking Women’s Leadership Report confirms the fact that women get less bylines in eleven of the top political and intellectual magazines and that this lack of visibility needs to be addressed in order for women to advance to leadership positions. Women need to be visible and credible.

Toddi also says  from her experience as a reporter she finds that women are not only hesitant to promote themselves, but are also not always organized, can often ramble, and don’t come across with the same confidence as men. Men are much more declarative. They frequently respond quickly to her questions in precise, short and often quotable statements.

Both the White House Project and Toddi strongly advocate media training for women. I agree, of course, but also feel strongly that women need to learn how to promote themselves more effectively and feel comfortable delivering their message. We must get over our belief that we are bragging when we talk about ourselves in a positive manner. Certainly, bragging turns people off and, as women, we need to be especially mindful of this in the workplace. Outright bragging can sabotage our efforts to advance our careers, but done diplomatically and appropriately, it is possible to get our message across to become more visible  in the organization. It is possible to learn this and do it well.

We  have valuable experiences, information and stories to share. We need to speak up and promote ourselves!

Featured Guest

Marci Shimoff is the author of the runaway bestseller, Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out. Her book, which offers a revolutionary approach to lasting happiness, soared to #1 on Amazon and many other national bestseller lists, and debuted at #2 on The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. It’s now been translated into 31 languages.
Marci is also the host of the Happy for No Reason PBS special that has aired nationwide, and is a featured teacher in the hit film, The Secret. Her books, including Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul and Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul, have met with stunning success, selling more than 14 million copies. She’s one of the bestselling female nonfiction authors of all time.
Marci is a professional speaker and one of the nation’s leading experts on happiness, success, and the law of attraction, She has inspired millions of people around the world and is dedicated to helping people live more empowered and joy-filled lives.

Listen to the March 9, 2010 show, or visit our VoiceAmerica archive to hear any of our previous shows.

The facilitator at the table asked each person to give a little information about their background, their strengths and expertise, and what kind of position they were seeking. I was impressed how well each person articulated their strengths and what types of companies and jobs they were targeting for employment. Everyone around the table responded enthusiastically with potential contacts and leads for their colleagues.

We worked our way around the table to one woman who told the group that she was an architect and was now in limbo and trying to decide what she wanted to do going forward. She told the group that at this time she was looking for any type of job. Interestingly enough, the group who had previously been so helpful to others, now remained quiet. They simply did not know how to respond.

The lesson from this is: People really want to help. In fact, most people are eager to assist you in getting a new job or getting clients, but YOU need to give them enough information so that they CAN help. When we are vague and unclear about what we want ourselves, we cannot expect others to come up with the answers for us.

If you are a business owner or entrepreneur, the more specific you can be about who is your target audience, the easier it is for people to refer business.

If you are looking for new employment, be clear about what type of company you want to work for and what kind of position you are seeking.

People sincerely want to help. Give them the opportunity to be helpful.

Featured Guest

Toddi Gutner is an award-winning journalist who has covered the financial markets, personal finance, small business and women in business for print, television, radio and the web for the Wall Street Journal, BusinessesWeek and Forbes. She is currently a contributing writer for the Wall Street Journal,
and a columnist for MSN Small Business Channel.

In 2007, Toddi launched a communications strategy firm, TLGutner LLC, that helps companies identify and create an effective message to market to the new media landscape as well as potential clients.

Toddi became the first woman columnist at BusinessWeek magazine when she created and wrote a well-respected weekly column called HERS, which focused on women and their financial and professional lives. Before joining Businessweek, Toddi wrote for Forbes magazine for five years.

Toddi’s has made TV appearances on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Power Lunch, Good Day New York, Weekend Today, Lifetime Live, Fox News, and This Week in Business.

Listen to the March 2, 2010 show, or visit our VoiceAmerica archive to hear any of our previous shows.

The holiday this week prompted me to think as well about honoring all the women presidents who have started and are now running their own companies in the United States. These women are playing a major role in our current economy and our future history. We should take the time to honor and recognize all female presidents in business and the incredible impact they have on the economy in the United States.

Here are the facts:

• 40% of all privately held U.S. firms are now owned or controlled by women. (10.4 million firms).
• Women’s companies are responsible for creating jobs at twice the rate of all firms.
• Women’s  companies are now responsible for more payroll than all the Fortune 500 companies combined.
• Women’s companies are growing profits at a faster rate than all firms.
• 420 new women-owned businesses are started every day!

Margaret Heffernen states in her book, How She Does It. Women Entrepreneurs are Changing the Rules of Business Success, “That these companies are doing so well says a great deal about female strengths and talents….These phenomenal numbers show just how effective women can be when they work on their own terms.”

To Madam Presidents everywhere, we honor you for your hard work and dedication, your commitment to your purpose and vision, and your contribution to the growth of our economy. YOU are our future.

Tune into Women Mean Business Radio on March 23rd, when I interview Margaret Heffernen.

http://www.voiceamerica.com/voiceamerica/vshow.aspx?sid=1612

Featured Guest

Carol Kinsey Goman, PhD. is a keynote speaker and author of The NonVerbal Advantage-Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work. She is president of Kinsey Consulting Services. Carol has worked with over 130 organizations in twenty-one countries. Her work has been featured on CNN, Bloomberg Television, and NBC News. Carol addresses associations, government and business audiences around the world on this and other strategic business issues. Her website is www.NonVerbalAdvantage.com

Listen to the February 23, 2010 show, or visit our VoiceAmerica archive to hear any of our previous shows.

Here’s my question this week for professional women: Why doesn’t that love and nurturing carry over more into the workplace?

What happens to women in a work environment that holds them back from nurturing and supporting each other?

I know that women make excellent managers. We often take great care to nurture our staff, and sometimes, in fact, we take on too much work ourselves to protect our team. But how much support do we give our female peers?

In a recent radio interview I did with Gail Evans on Women Mean Business Radio, this topic surfaced. Gail spoke about how women don’t seem to help each other be successful in a corporate environment. During the interview, she told the story of one instance in her tenure as Executive Vice President at CNN that a female colleague exhibited some behavior during a meeting that Gail felt would eventually sabotage her career. After the meeting, Gail asked this woman to join her in the ladies room, and she gave her some honest feedback about what took place during the meeting and how she might approach the situation differently in the future. Gail was nurturing her. She cared enough to help her female colleague be successful. Gail’s philosophy is that if one woman succeeds, we all succeed.

How many times have you taken a female colleague/peer aside for the purpose of helping them advance their career?

It’s Valentine’s Day week. Maybe it’s time to  love and nurture  our female colleagues.

I would love to hear from you about specific examples you might have when you “nurtured” a female co-worker and spread the love.

Featured Guest

Diane F. Halpern is a past-president of the American Psychological Association. She is Professor of Psychology and the founding Director of the Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children at Claremont McKenna College. Diane has published over 350 articles and many books including, From Work-Family Balance to Work-Family Interaction: Changing the Metaphor in 2005, and Women at the Top: Powerful Leaders Tell Us How to Combine Work and Family (co-authored by Fanny Cheung), in 2008.

Diane was president of the Western Psychological Association, the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, and the Division of General Psychology of the American Psychological Association. She has won many awards for her teaching and research including the 2002 Outstanding Professor Award from the Western Psychological Association, Her recent work includes studies of the effects of California’s paid leave insurance, and how flexible work policies affect stress and health.

Listen to the February 16, 2010 show, or visit our VoiceAmerica archive to hear any of our previous shows.

Selling to a large or small group of potential decision makers has many similarities to promoting yourself and your business to prospective clients. One similarity is in the way you open a presentation. The opening of a sales presentation or “attention grabber” is much like the way you start your elevator pitch or promotional message.

Attention grabbers are just that. They are designed to get the attention of the audience from the start so that they will engage and listen to your message.

How effective is your attention grabber?

Here are some different suggestions on how to open your pitch to grab attention from the listeners.

1. Open your pitch with a statement or question that creates some kind of an emotional bond. A good way to create an emotional bond might be to say, “Imagine yourself….. or how would it feel if….”. You can move your listener to a state of mind or emotion where they will connect with their need for your product or services.
2. Ask a poignant question that demonstrates that you get their problem or challenges. “Have you ever experienced….? What do you do when….? etc.
3. Share a story about yourself and your journey that connects with your business in some way. Maybe you experienced similar issues, overcame those issues and now are passionate about helping other people.
4. Make a statement that has an unexpected ending or is surprising in some way.
5. Use a quote or song title or lyric that people can easily identify with and fits well into your message.

Starting your promotional pitch with your name and company name is NOT a great attention grabber. You need to give people a reason to remember you before you give them this information.

Draw them in first with something that gets their attention and then talk about your business and the benefit your product or service will provide to them. NOW, they will remember your name and company!