Social skills, extracurricular activities in high school pay off later in life

Social skills, extracurricular activities in high school pay off later in life

Chris Brown faces uphill battle to save career - Celebrities- msnbc.com

Chris Brown faces uphill battle to save career - Celebrities- msnbc.com

Public Speaking Tips 4: Where are your eyes?

There are thousands (maybe millions) of tips on the web for improving your public speaking skills. Some are absolutely garbage, like:

“Don’t really look at people. Just find a spot in the back of the room and focus on that.”

Huh?!

Follow that tip and you are practically guaranteed to have a horrible connection with your audience. (It might work if there are a few thousand people in the audience because you can’t really see them anyway, but I doubt it.)

I’ve seen literally hundreds of people try this and sooner or later someone in the audience turns around to find out what’s so interesting in the back of the room. People are not stupid. They can tell if you're looking at them or not. Just like you know a fake smile from a real one.

And no..."look between their eyes" doesn't really work either. For some reason it erodes rapport.

What do smart speakers do?

Before you begin, go meet a few people in various places in the room (front, back, left, right.) Make them smile; find out their names and what they do. Now you have some friendly faces to look at while you’re speaking.

This creates an incredible amount of rapport with your audience because it helps you to speak to the “entire” room and it allows you to be more conversational. The next thing you know, if you're doing a good job, you'll find friendly faces all over the room.

Campaign Against Dating Violence - Chris Brown and Rihanna

Since I originally wrote Chris Brown and Rihanna: Emotions Gone Wild! a lot has occurred. Millennials continue to be outraged, but thankfully, the incident is raising awareness about teen dating violence issues.

The teen organization Do Something has launched the 1 in 3 Campaign. As part of the effort they've created a PSA that graphically reenacts the Chris Brown and Rihanna incident. The reenactment is based on the police report.

Another part of the campaign enables people to request a set of free bracelets. The set comes with two black bracelets and one blue (representing the 1 in 3 teens who experiences dating violence).

If you are the parent of a teen or if you know a teen, please, talk to them about this issue. It's out of hand.

Identity Theft Tip 5 - Somebody Stole My Personal Brand?

Do you share a computer with someone? Identity thieves love to get your info off of shared computers. They get into your bank accounts, Facebook, or whatever. This just happened to a young person I know.

The id thief sent out crazy messages and posted XXX photos. This did serious damage to the young lady’s personal brand and reputation. Not cool.

So...

Be careful when sharing computers. Be sure to clear all cookies and passwords when finished.

The Millennials: Is Anybody Listening?

This is a touching video featuring students from Village Academy High School in Pomona, California. The lives of these students have been severly impacted by the state of the economy. The video even caught the attention of President Obama who went to visit the school and meet with the students.

Duncan Nugget #106: Become Exceptional

It might be time to cut back on some things in your life that you only do at an average level so that you can spend more time becoming exceptional at one or two things.

Easier said then done?

Hey…it’s called "exceptional" for a reason.

Exceptional people make more money. Exceptional people have more time freedom. Exceptional people tend to be healthier and lead more fulfilled lives.

Million-Dollar Question: What do you do at an exceptional level? If you answered "nothing", then cut back on something (like TV) and work on becoming exceptional.

MBA's Lacking Soft Skills?

According to this article MBA's are lacking soft skills.

Moneyweb - Soapbox - Soft skills – time to toughen up

The Millennial Mind™: Dan Schawbel

"You need to be the real you because everyone else is taken and replicas don't sell for as much."

--Dan Schawbel

Over the last four years my most requested program has been Get on the BRANDWagon: Rising to the Top in a Crazy, Competitive World. I’ve delivered that program hundreds of times to colleges and youth organizations all over the country so, when it comes to personal branding I know my stuff.

That’s why I know for a fact that in the world of personal branding, especially for Gen-Y, Dan Schawbel is the man. A Millennial himself, Dan is the author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 2009). My copy is already on the way. Can’t wait.

With over 150,000 results for his name in Google (wow!), Fast Company calls Dan a “personal branding force of nature.” He is the founder of the award winning Personal Branding Blog®, publisher of Personal Branding Magazine®, head judge for the Personal Brand Awards® and director of Personal Branding TV®.

As if all of that weren’t enough he is also a Social Media Specialist with EMC Corporation, which is one of the leading technology companies in the world.

When I decided to write a series of articles on personal branding, Dan is the first person that popped into my head and now we get a chance to poke around in his. Welcome to The Millennial Mind of Dan Schawbel.


A WAKE UP CALL

Can you give us a sneak peak at your new book, Me 2.0? What are some of the main things people, Millennials in particular, will take away?

Millennials will take away that there are massive opportunities for them right now because they are technologically competent and have the least amount of responsibility right now.

Millennials need this book as a wakeup call so they can figure out what they want to do in life early, instead of after switching careers ten times. Millennials, especially students, have so many choices and so many influences on their lives, but this book gives them a framework they can use to align their passion with their expertise and really kick ass.

I realized that the brand I developed online
had indirectly told my employer exactly
what I wanted to do for the company,
without even asking for it.

LET YOUR BRAND DO THE ASKING

The book concept was contrived about two years ago, after I started a blog and was actively recruited to be a social media specialist for a large company. I realized that the brand I developed online had indirectly told my employer exactly what I wanted to do for the company, without even asking for it.

In this way, I was recruited based on my passion without applying for a job. This is a fundamental difference between interviewing with 15 people and finally getting a job after 8 months! The book teaches young individuals how to use social media tools for personal empowerment, for networking, and to become more successful.

Of course, the book isn't 100% focused on social media. I give the history of personal branding, why it's important in today's working world, the opportunities for Millennials, my 4-step proven personal branding process, the benefits I've received by doing this, a bit about entrepreneurship, and some case studies.


THE SEARCH FOR PURPOSE

A lot of young professionals and entrepreneurs as well students of all ages struggle with finding their purpose. I believe that a person's personal brand directly relates to their purpose in life. How did you find your purpose?

During college I was trying to figure out what type of job I wanted before I graduated. I had announced my college major as marketing during my sophomore year. I did eight internships in all marketing fields, in both large and small companies, such as Reebok, LoJack, Lycos, and TechTarget.

I even started my own consulting business on the side. The purpose of this was to narrow down the position I would want when I graduated, as well as build a resume that would make me stand out amongst my peers, especially because marketing jobs were slim.

While interviewing for these positions, I had a personal branding toolkit, with a business card, website, portfolio, resume, cover letter, references document, and more. People noticed it and I started a blog in late 2006 called "driven to succeed" and it was to teach college students self-marketing.

It wasn't until March 14, 2007 that I read Tom Peter's "Brand Called You" article and fireworks went off. I realized that much of his advice is what I had been preaching for years and then I embraced it.

On that very day, I started a blog, which turned into awards, a TV podcast series, a magazine, and now a book. I speak at schools and do consulting as well. Personal branding is my destiny and it's something I will be evangelizing for the rest of my life.

If it made me no money, I would still do it because it comes natural to me and it's why I believe I'm on this earth: to create personal branding classes for every school in the world.

Luckily, my background was in website development and graphic design, so I was able to do everything I do now on almost no budget. In this way, I matched my expertise with my passion.

Sleep doesn't matter to me...
I'll put in 100+ hours of work doing
everything and not care.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE? SLEEP? OVERATED

Personal Branding is a passion and a business that you've built while still maintaining a career as a Social Media Specialist for one of the leading technology companies in the world. Work/life balance is important to a lot of Millennials. How did you make the time to build your dream and still have a life?

I don't believe in work/life balance. There is a major convergence right now between what you do on the job and your social life, due to these web technologies. At some point, you won't even be able to decipher between both because you'll be friends with your manager and co-workers on Facebook.

What you do for 40+ hours a week is a major part of your life. I talk to a lot of people about communicating what they do because when you first meet someone, you'll be asked "so what do you do." Your response will make or break everything for you, so you need to be doing something!

A lot of the conversations you'll have in your social life come from your on-the-job experiences. It's really inescapable in my opinion. Managing both a full-time job and all of my side projects is difficult and is the reason why I don't sleep at all.

You can find me on Twitter at 2am, but I do it for a reason. I believe in the power of personal branding to a point, where sleep doesn't matter to me and I'll put in 100+ hours of work doing everything and not care.

We are accountable and
held responsible for everything we do.
We need to realize what makes us tick and
work like hell to get paid for doing it.

COMMANDER OF YOUR CAREER

I believe that everyone has a seed of greatness in them. Describe the relationship between personal branding and greatness. How does personal branding help a person realize his or her potential?

Personal branding is all about figuring out who you are, what you're capable of and how you want to be positioned to the world. It's actually impossible to succeed with personal branding until you've realized your potential. The reason I say this is because you need confidence and a sense of being in order to make things happen for yourself.

My main message in the book is how we all have to be the "commander of our career" because at the end of the day, success lies in our hands. We are accountable and held responsible for everything we do. We need to realize what makes us tick and work like hell to get paid for doing it.

PERSONAL BRANDING 202

One of your personal goals is to start an international class on personal branding for college freshman. Why is personal branding crucial to a student's success?

Well, right now you have 1.3 million college graduates and there will be 22% less jobs for them because of this economy. Students are given no guidance in college on how to brand themselves and what they need to do to be selected for a job.

I believe that underclassmen won't have to apply for jobs when they graduate if they start the personal branding process early. I say this because personal branding uses attraction-based marketing in order to pull employers and other opportunities into your world.

College students, although very tech-savvy, are clueless on how to use these tools for networking or job seeking. This class would be required by every school and right now it's actually a differentiator.

PERSONAL BRANDING WITH A TWIST

Talk to us a little about Personal Branding Magazine. What came first the blog or the magazine? What are you planning to accomplish with PBM?

The blog came in March 2007, while the magazine was launched on August 1st, when Fast Company profiled me. The first issue had Donald Trump on the cover with an interview by Guy Kawasaki and the eighth issue will be coming out this May. The magazine has over 40 writers, 14 regular columnists and 2 editors.

The content of the issue is focused on personal branding, but with twists in each issue. For instance, one issue was called "the future of recruitment," while another one was called "Millennials: changing the way we do business."

I look at my media vehicles as complementary products. The blog is regular TV, the magazine is cable television and the book is PPV [pay per view]. The magazine's purpose is to update everyone quarterly about what's going on with personal branding and it is the leading magazine for this "industry."

THEY LAUGHED WHEN I SAID I WOULD GET PUBLISHED, BUT WHEN THEY SAW MY BOOK…

People look at you and see nothing but success. Great job. Great business. Tell me about a time you've encountered adversity and how you dealt with it.

I appreciate [the compliments]. I encountered crazy adversity when I was working to get a publishing deal. I got rejected by 70 literary agents and 2 publishers. It was so easy to quit and continue working my 9-5 job, but that just wasn't me.

I gave myself no choice but to get published and would not accept defeat, especially after hearing people laugh in my face. I survived because I had confidence in myself and I really wanted to create a resource that took everything I've talked about and mend it into a book. The world needs this book and I felt I was the right person at the right time to make this happen.

Final thoughts?

While going through the personal branding process, I recommend that everyone stays authentic, transparent, and tries to have fun with it. You need to be the real you because everyone else is taken and replicas don't sell for as much.

Thanks, Dan.

Al, thanks so much for doing this.

Public Speaking Tips 3: An Over-Looked Secret for an Awesome Opening

It’s a packed house. The audience is waiting to hear from you and you have prepared an outstanding talk. You’re ready to hit them with an opening that’ll make‘em say “Wow!”

And then…

Before you even have a chance to open your mouth, things start to fall apart.

People in the audience are getting restless and bored. You see too many yawns to count. Others are getting irritated. It’s killing you, but you can’t do anything about it right now.

Why?


Because it has nothing to do you. You don’t even have the mic.

This ugly mess has been orchestrated by…

The person introducing you.

Anytime you’re going to give a talk you be sure to have a serious pow-wow with the person introducing you. If you don’t, chances are that there will be problems.

This is a mistake I’ve made myself and I’ve seen countless beginning speakers make the same mistake. It’s not impossible to overcome a poor intro, but it can be a struggle.

MAKE ‘EM LOVE YOU

Andy Drish wrote a blog post about being the speaker and the youngest person in the room. He wrote some good tips and people left some good comments. Here is the comment that I left:

Make sure you talk to the person that is introducing you. Make him/her laugh. Make him/her like you. Go over your intro with this person and if you can get somebody that a lot of people in the company like and respect, you’ll have a serious advantage.

Also, spend some time to talking to a few other influential people right before you start. Everybody tends to follow their lead. They’ll be saying things like, “he’s going to be good” before you even get started.

NO BAD NEWS

Never let the person that is introducing you give the audience any bad news whatsoever. Before your intro, in a casual-conversation kind of way, find out if there are any special announcements that are going to be made.

If it’s bad news, suggest that your message will be better received if the announcement is made after your talk. The worse the news, the more firm you need to be.

Once during my intro, a campus activities director announced that due to an error in the financial aid office, student loan checks would be delayed by three weeks. Many of the students needed that money for food. They went crazy and couldn’t hear one word I said for the first 10 minutes of my presentation. Not cool.

So let’s sum this tip up in one simple sentence:

Never get in front of the room without doing everything you can to have a rock solid intro.

Words of Wisdom 95: Eating Right, Thinking Right

Eating healthy and thinking healthy go hand because your mind and body have an inescapable effect on each other. Substances introduced to the body affect the mind; processes introduced to the mind affect the body. Think about that.

Think right. Eat right. Live right.

The Millennials: A Vision of Students Today

As I continue my journey through my YouTube favorites, I keep finding gems. (Duh! I guess that's why they're in my favorites, huh?) Watch this one carefully. It's very insightful.





And in case you missed them check out:
Generation We
Lost Generation

Dead Brand Walking: Mega-Millennial Chris Brown is Done

"Mom, I'm out."

"Where are you going?"

"To the Chris Brown concert."

Mom goes on rant that's too profane to write here. She ends with:

"Your not going and that's final."

See what I mean? Dead Brand Walking.

The Millennials: Lost Generation?

I've been going through my YouTube favorites again. The other day I posted the Generation We video. Here's another amazing video on the Millennials: Lost Generation. It's simply brilliant.

The Millennials: Generation We

I was going through my YouTube favorites when I came across this video--Generation We. It features Millennials speaking out about their generation, what's in store for them, and what they plan to do about it. Check it out. It's insightful, challenging, and inspiring.

Duncan Nugget #49: Self-Motivation

"How do I stay motivated?"

Good question. That's a question people ask me all the time. And I tell them the same thing every time:

“Motivation has an ebb and flow like the tide. Even if they love what they do for a living, people are not in a state of high motivation all the time. It’s all about being about to make the downtime less frequent. It's about being able to do what needs to be done even when you don't feel like doing it. Action comes before motivation.”

Suggested Reading:
What comes first--action or motivation?

Now Hiring Millennials: The Fresh Air Fund

"Al, do you know about any jobs or internships?"

It never fails. At least three young people ask me that question every week. Well, here's a great opportunity for college-aged students.

The Fresh Air Fund --a great organization that has sent 1.7 million inner city kids on summer vacation at camp or with a host family for free--is hiring college-aged students who like to work with middle and high school students.

They are looking for counselors for their summer camps (these are no ordinary camps). If you want to know the requirements you can find them here. If you want an inside look at what life is like at the Fresh Air camps then check out my interview with Kristen Farmer. She tells you how rewarding it is working with the kids. "Life-changing," she says.

If this isn't for you then...pause. Think about somebody who would be interested...now forward this blog to them. Thanks.

Inside The Mind Of Kristen Farmer

“I think that working with young people is something that has its challenges and requires patience, but it also is the most rewarding kind of work that there is out there. It is also some of the most important work.”

--Kristen Farmer

Most Millennials are job hopping every 2-3 years. Kristen Farmer, however, has been with The Fresh Air Fund since 2005 and doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon. Case closed. The Fresh Air Fund must be a cool place to work.

If you’re a college-aged student looking for a summer job and you love to work with children then this might be the place for you. (Hint: That means they’re hiring.)

Every summer, 3000 inner city children head off to one of five Fresh Air camps at the 2,300 acre Sharpe Reservation in up-state New York. During the year an additional 10,000 students will visit to learn about the environment.

Kristen Farmer, the Tutoring and High School Placement Coordinator during the year, will be there again this summer as the assistant director. “I believe so much in what we do”, she exclaims.

Her belief was clearly evident during our conversation. Kristen believes in service and has a serious passion for working with young people.

She began her career at Fresh Air as the Journalism Teacher—one of the counselor positions—for the career awareness camp called Camp Mariah.

Prior to Fresh Air, she has been a tutor, a pre-kindergarten teacher, a substitute teacher, an intern with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and a Health Education Volunteer with the Peace Corps—all before the age of 25.

Let’s find out what else is going on inside The Millennial Mind of Kristen Farmer.



FROM PITCHING A TENT TO MAKING RESUMES
Tell me a little bit about The Fresh Air Fund.
We register students in the spring of their 6th grade year. They stay in our program for three years. They go to camp for 3 1/2 weeks each summer.

Monday through Friday they take classes from 8:30-4:30. We offer a wide variety of classes. I taught journalism and we also have international relations, we have dance, and dark room photography. We have art, music, two career classes, swimming, and more—fifteen in total.

We have evening and weekend programs that are centered around three basic things. One being typical camp programs where they [camp participants] are hiking, doing overnights in the woods, and things like that.

There is also a lot of career focused programming. We have a career fair at camp where they actually register to interview for a specific type of job. And a theoretical job is awarded to someone. Guests come in and talk about their careers.

We do a lot of talks about issues that they are facing in middle school and high school. This is part of our Youth Development Series. YDS is run by an administrative member or a counselor.


POTENTIAL FOR GROWTH
Why are you so passionate about working for the Fresh Air Fund?

I believe so much in what we do. I’m about to start my fourth summer here so I’ve really been able to see the kids grow throughout the program.

I think that at that age—from the summer before 7th grade to the summer before 9th grade—there is a lot of potential for growth. Our program is a place where the students feel really comfortable, especially after their first year. They feel like it’s a place that’s full of opportunities and they’re willing to take risks. They’re will to try things.

They have the opportunity to be exposed to so many things during the camp. I think that’s a very, very important service that the kids certainly deserve the opportunity to have. A lot of times kids that are in over-crowded schools aren’t exposed to a lot of these extra-curricular activities.

We also put a huge focus on literacy in our camps and our year-round programs. So, there are always opportunities for public speaking.

That’s excellent because according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, communication skills are tied with leadership skills as the most desirable skill for employees to have.

You’re leading the kids. So, it’s important to

have a positive attitude about doing

new things and always being

willing to help out.

DIVERSITY, ENERGY, AND ATTITUDE
What would make someone an ideal candidate for the counselor position at the Fresh Air Fund?
We get our counselors from all over the world—literally. Geographically there’s no ideal candidate. The campers are exposed to people from all over.

I think it’s important to have similar backgrounds to the kids who have grown up in New York City, but I also think it’s important to have counselors from all over to expose the kids to the different cultures of all of the different counselors.

I think having a high energy level is certainly important. As a counselor you’re expected to participate at all times. I think that having a passion for working with children is very important.

Also, having a willingness to try anything is important. For example, even if you come in as a teacher of a certain subject that you are knowledgeable about and you feel comfortable teaching, outside of the classroom you are still going to be exposed to all kinds of different things.

As the journalism teacher I had studied journalism, I had studied advertising in school so, I was very comfortable and confident teaching journalism, but I didn’t have a lot of experience with things like sleeping in the woods, hiking, and stuff like that.

That’s something that you’re not just participating in. You’re leading the kids. So, it’s important to have a positive attitude about doing new things and always being willing to help out.

THE GREAT OUTDOORS

So, I guess you had better be the outdoors type, huh?
Yeah, but if you’re borderline then Camp Mariah might be a good place for you because the other camps are more typical camps. We have a computer lab and internet, air conditioning, toilets and showers inside of our cabins.

So, it’s more like a boarding school environment then a rustic environment, but our camp is the Career Awareness Camp. It’s different at the other camps. So, do you have to be outdoorsy? Yes, you have to be willing to try those things, but you don’t have to be a pro.

My draw in working
with the Fresh Air Fund was
working with children and working
in education and the importance of education.

IT’S ALL ABOUT EDUCATION

I’ve noticed that Millennials exhibit a high level of social responsibility and that’s exactly what I see all over your resume. Everything that is on your resume has to do with youth development and youth empowerment. That’s interesting because you went to school for advertising. Let’s talk about that little.

It’s true. Based on working at the Make-A-Wish Foundation and working with all of the counselors here at the Fresh Air Fund, I think a lot of people my age feel a huge need to give back. In my experience with the Peace Corps I was surrounded by people who wanted to give back and sought some way to make their mark and make a difference.

I think that my draw in working with the Fresh Air Fund was working with children and working in education and the importance of education. That’s what drew me here more than a social responsibility. My passion for my work here at the Fresh Air Fund is definitely tied to the educational aspect.


A MATTER OF AGE
When I’m talking to Millennials it seems like instead of dropping a donation in the mail, which is fine because we know that we gotta have the cash, but it seems like you all are little more “hands on”. Instead of just giving your money you want to give your time so that you can actually see the difference you’re making. Is that true?

I think so. I think part of that is generational, but I think part of that is also a matter of age—the age that Generation Y is right now. More of us have time and the ability to do some tangible work instead of the bank account that we could use to just write the check.

A lot of us are either in school or coming out of school. We been into our studies our whole lives and now we’re at a point where we want to do something. We’re like “okay, we’ve learned all of this. Now let’s put it to use.”

In other words, you feel that twenty-something’s from various generations are going to be more apt to be hands on because...they don’t have the cash anyway!
Right! But I do think that part of our generation is possibly more apt to be active then generations past. I think there’s a lot of variety of fields that you can go into at this point. People are feeling like there are so many choices out there that our generation is moving towards fields that are a “hands-on”, tangible kind of thing.


PHILOSOPHIES AND FAMILIES

What’s your main philosophy in life? Do you have a particular creed that you live by?

I don’t think so. That’s a lot of pressure!

Ha! That is a lot of pressure—trying to adhere to a particular philosophy. Back to the Fresh Air Fund, what’s the culture like? Is it like a family? Do you all become best friends for life?

Definitely. I think so, especially at the camp level. The staff spends 2 ½ months together and they’re together all of time. I’ve had people come up to me and say “this was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

But going through something like that is going to be life-changing. It’s a struggle at first, but you come out of it being so proud. You feel tied to the organization, tied to the camp, and tied to the kids. So, I think you can’t help but feel tied to the other staff as well.

Frederick Douglass once commented that “It’s easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Sum your philosophy about working with young people.
I think that working with young people is something that has its challenges and requires patience, but it also is the most rewarding kind of work that there is out there. It is also some of the most important work. As cliché as it sounds, it’s the young people of today who will be running the country.

Thanks for a few minutes of your time and have fun at camp!

Thank you!