Memorable Networking Quick. Say something memorable about yourself, on the spot, in less than 15 seconds. Now come up with another – and then smile professionally, right in front of a bunch of strangers. Oh, and if you’re feeling bold, drop in a phrase that indicates you’re looking for your next job or another client. Don’t just introduce yourself. Your introduction ought to build on your personal brand, and it might be light-hearted or heart-felt. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 20 amazing facts about the human body | Science | The Observer The appendix gets a bad press. It is usually treated as a body part that lost its function millions of years ago. All it seems to do is occasionally get infected and cause appendicitis. Practically everything we experience is made up of molecules. It is hard to grasp just how small the atoms that make up your body are until you take a look at the sheer number of them. It might seem hard to believe, but we have about the same number of hairs on our bodies as a chimpanzee, it's just that our hairs are useless, so fine they are almost invisible. But perhaps the most attractive idea is that early humans needed to co-operate more when they moved out of the trees into the savanna. Goosepimples are a remnant of our evolutionary predecessors. Similarly we get the bristling feeling of our hair standing on end when we are scared or experience an emotive memory. If sci-fi movies were to be believed, terrible things would happen if your body were pushed from a spaceship without a suit.
Don't Ignore the Competition As you learn how to influence more effectively, make sure you don’t miss this on your checklist as you prepare your strategy. All too often, people get consumed with their own ideas and fail to keep a watchful eye on others who may act to protect their own interests. Developing a competitive strategy does not guarantee success, but failing to take account of the forces set against you is plain stupid, or careless, or perhaps just a consequence of being very busy. Here is a quick process to build into your planning… Make a summary list of your top influencing goals. NB: Check out Avoiding Risks and Seizing Opportunities, , How to Influence Upwards and Diagnosing Your Opposition . Before you finalise the action, develop a deeper understanding of each individual’s position… Exactly what are they about to lose? NB: Have a look at Handling Conflicting Agendas , Building Trust Beyond the Obvious and Challenging Formidable Characters for more relevant insights.
Amy Cuddy: Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are TED and The Huffington Post are excited to bring you TEDWeekends, a curated weekend program that introduces a powerful "idea worth spreading" every Friday, anchored in an exceptional TEDTalk. This week's TEDTalk is accompanied by an original blog post from the featured speaker, along with new op-eds, thoughts and responses from the HuffPost community. Watch the talk above, read the blog post and tell us your thoughts below. Become part of the conversation! Power. In her TEDTalk (above), social psychologist Amy Cuddy shares an easy way that anyone can change not only others' perceptions of them, but the way they feel about themselves -- spending two minutes "power posing" with their arms or elbows out, their chin lifted and their posture expansive. But for those who already project power and competence to the world through their bodies, there is another, perhaps harder challenge: communicating warmth. Ideas are not set in stone. More in Life Hack With Body Language
Healthier Network Sharpen up and focus your networking in 30 minutes. Try this… Get a list of the people in your network — perhaps by exporting from Outlook to Excel.What percentage have you initiated contact with in the last six months? This can be a little alarming. Mark all of the names you would like to be in your network. Now, how does it look? Check your final list again in three months — go on, put a reminder in your diary! Try It: Hemispheric Specialization The left and right hemispheres of the brain have specialized functions for most people. The left hemisphere is a language center while the right hemisphere processes spatial information. These differences are most obvious in those rare individuals whose corpus callosum was surgically severed to help control a severe form of epilepsy. But are these differences apparent in the behavior of individuals with an intact corpus callosum? You will need a cooperative volunteer for this demonstration. Is Chicago north of Washington, D.C.? (for the curious, the answers are: 1.
When Networking Is a Waste of Time When you are new in business, you tend to jump on anything that smells like a business opportunity and you tend to think that networking is the way forward to success. When you get more experienced, you get wiser. You learn that networking efforts too often are a waste of time if you are looking to grow your business. Once you have reached a certain level and people know who you are, I argue, that you can cut down drastically on the time you spend on networking activities. This is good news because we all know how time consuming networking can be. There is in particular one kind of networking activity that is not worth the efforts. I have tried this so many times. Some networking activities are a waste of time. • Get new insights and inspiration. • Efforts to build my personal brand. • The soft sale. You might also be interested in these blog posts on networking and personal brand building: Introverts and Innovation: Unlocking the Full Potential Only Network If You Have a Reason inShare15
Top 10 Signs Of Evolution In Modern Man Humans Through history, as natural selection played its part in the development of modern man, many of the useful functions and parts of the human body become unnecessary. What is most fascinating is that many of these parts of the body still remain in some form so we can see the progress of evolution. Goose Bumps Cutis Anserina Humans get goose bumps when they are cold, frightened, angry, or in awe. Jacobson’s Organ Vomeronasal organ Jacobson’s organ is a fascinating part of animal anatomy and it tells us a lot about our own sexual history. Junk DNA L-gulonolactone oxidase While many of the hangovers from our “devolved” past are visible or physical, this is not true for all. Extra Ear Muscles Auriculares muscles Also known as the extrinsic ear muscles, the auriculares muscles are used by animals to swivel and manipulate their ears (independently of their head) in order to focus their hearing on particular sounds. Darwin’s Point plica semilunaris Contributor: JFrater Jamie Frater
Networking: 4 Smart Ways to Make the Most of Your Connections Getting a personal introduction to a strategic investor or business partner means everything to an entrepreneur. Likewise, executives depend on being able to pick up the phone to get insights into a new market or find the world's greatest marketing guy. Business life has always been about connections. Business leaders spend decades building and cultivating those relationships. Unfortunately, you may be doing just that. Here are four ways to building and maintaining a network made up of strong, quality relationships that will last forever. 1. To market a product successfully, you've got to come up with your bulls-eye target customer base and position to meet their specific needs. You should do the same thing with your network connections. For example, some of my connections are top executives, VCs, and clients. Contrast that with my readers. 2. Remember that contacts are real relationships with real people. And never spam them. 3. Let me tell you something interesting about contacts. 4.
Humans and Chimps Evolved Lopsided Brains | Brain Evolution The two halves of the human brain are not symmetrical. This lopsidedness, which arises during brain development, may be a stamp of the adaptability of the human brain, a new study suggests. Researchers compared geometric differences between brain scans of humans and chimpanzees. The human brain is known to be asymmetric — the "left brain" is involved in language processing, for example, while the "right brain" is where spatial reasoning takes place. Asymmetry and specialization of the brain's hemispheres were once thought be distinctly human traits, but primates and other animals possess them as well. Genetics is thought to play a role in the first two asymmetries. In their study, Gómez-Robles and her colleagues compared the differences between live human brains and chimpanzee brains using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Both human and chimpanzee brains had asymmetries that varied across each population, the analysis showed.
How to Drive Consensus: 7 Secrets There's probably no such thing as an established definition of the word leadership, but I'll tell you what it means to me: The ability to get people moving in a single direction. Perhaps the most critical test of leadership ability in a business environment is in driving consensus. When you've got a management team made up of highly intelligent, highly opinionated people, let me tell you, building consensus can be remarkably challenging, to say the least. Especially when it's a critical decision on a controversial topic. Even more so when it means things may have to change. Nobody likes to change. Having done this sort of thing I don't know how many times, here's a seven-step process that seems to work remarkably well. 1. You may think that everyone's on the same team so their goals are aligned. Since you may be a consultant and the group may not report to you, get to know them individually and try to identify their interests in the matter at hand. 2. 3. 4. 5. Keep one thing in mind. 6.
How To Network Like A 'Celeb Wrangler' Network the Hell Out of People: 6 Expert Tips Launching and growing a business is hard. You need all the help you can get. Over my years in CEO roles at Priceline.com, uBid.com, Competitive Technologies, and others, I learned to build a rapport with a large network of people. There are a lot of people out there who can help you, but they won't just ring the doorbell. Here are several tips to help you effectively expand your business network. 1. Make a list of potential relationships you'd like to forge, either by individual's names, or by companies and positions. 2. The most important part of this regular communication is to make sure you are acutely aware of their needs, not just yours. 3. Make a list of the interests of the people on your go-to list. 4. Discuss their work, congratulate their accomplishments, and keep them in your discussions. 5. Once you make this relationship list, it needs maintenance and updating. 6. Send out handwritten notes.