Community Leader: Liz Strauss

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of a conversation with Liz Strauss (web, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) of SOBCON.  Liz is a special personality in the social media, marketing and community building worlds.  In a short, idea-filled hour, Liz gave me several ideas about community, business, and leadership.  Here are a fewso you might understand a bit about her expertise and consider joining SOBCON April 29 - May 1, 2011 in Chicago.

Decide

The most memorable thing for me related to the Lead Change Group. She said I needed to decide what the group would be and do. Then she said:

You know the difference between a choice and a decision, don't you?  A choice is when you go into a Baskin-Robbins and you choose vanilla or chocolate or some other flavor.  You can always make another choice.  When you de-cide, that's like homo-cide. You KILL all the other options."

In my life and my leadership, that comment will ring for a long time.  I've been killing options since we talked but I still haven't killed them all.  I'm getting there Liz.

Help

Take the word "help" out of my vocabulary for 6 months.  Once I started listening, I learned that I use the word a lot.  As a consultant and a coach, "help" is difficult to quantify. As a coach or consultant, I do certain activities.  Those activities take time, and time costs money.  "Help" on the other hand is difficult to quantify and even harder to charge for. Focus on the activity and the benefit to the customer rather than generic "help." Particular activities and measurable results are more easily quantified and billable.

Vision

Finally, we talked about the vision for Lead Change.  More will be coming on that in the next few weeks.  She said, "Knowing where you're going is irresistibly attractive."  I've been working on my unique personal vision and articulating my passion for the group's vision and purpose since that call (and a bit before, too). People can choose to join or abandon a concrete vision.  Concrete visions compel a choice.  She challenged me to articulate my vision and own it. "Stop being a host and start being the CEO," she said. Become ultimately responsible for what happens.  Own the vision.

SOBCON

Be sure to go check out SOBCON, the Successful Online Business Conference - Where the Virtual Meets Concrete.  There are a number of wonderful speakers and Successful, Outstanding Bloggers who will be in attendance.