So…now the dust has settled. The National Hockey League has completed their draft and the owners and general managers are focusing on trades. The Bruins have brought home the Stanley Cup! Let’s see what can we learn from the Boston Bruins.

1. Knowing when to be aggressive

Anyone who has watched an ice hockey game knows that it is a fast, hard-hitting sport. While watching the series, I noticed that the Bruins would choose to play one game at a high tempo and keep pressuring their opponents. In other games, they played at a slower tempo that seemed methodical at times. Much like a hockey game, there are periods of high activity when you’re looking to grow your position in the market or go head to head with a competitor. In a recent conversation with a woman business owner, she described how fully engaged she was in producing a project proposal while knowing full well she was up against one of the biggest competitors in her industry.

Teams often change the tempo of a game to play with different strengths and to get the other team off their game plan. When you’re leading a business, it makes sense to “slow down” by emphasizing business planning, research and development or using the ebb and flow of your industry to regroup and recharge with vacations or other forms of downtime. Knowing when to take the aggressive approach has to be a fully conscious choice and not based on the conventional idea that business must always be fast-paced.

2. Keeping emotions from directing play

There is a story going around Boston that Zdeno Chara, captain of the Bruins, urged his teammates to keep their emotions in check after Nathan Horton was hit hard and injured. I couldn’t find a link corroborating this story but clearly someone said something. How do I know? It’s not unknown for a team to go after a player they think went far beyond the normal bounds of play. However, the Bruins didn’t do this. Regardless if it was Chara or someone else in the locker room, the team stayed focused on winning the Cup.

With the ragged economic recovery, it is easy for our emotions to drive our decision-making. There can even be some internal stuff like personality conflicts that affect how we interact and manage our employees. Who do you have to talk with? It’s important to have someone who can give you the pep talk or talk you down when your emotions are strong. Focus your passion on what makes your business a winner.

3. Assists and goals count

There aren’t many sports that count assists. In hockey, if you pass the puck to your teammate and your teammate scores, you get credit too. Collaboration is certainly a hot topic lately in business thought. In fact, there is a book by Adam Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuff titled Co-opetition: A Revolution Mindset That Combines Competition and Cooperation; The Game Theory That is Changing the Game of Business. In my own business, I just finished a collaboration with a colleague that combined his expertise in project team management and my expertise in leadership skills and self-management. It was affirming, enlightening and allowed us to be exposed to new groups of prospects. Who could you collaborate with? How would it change your business?

4. Teamwork

There are only two actual stars on the Bruins team. Zdeno Chara being a fabulous defenseman and Tim Thomas who is an amazing goalie. They needed the other players to do their jobs on the ice. Goals had to be scored, the puck had to be cleared and the opposing team had to be kept away from scoring opportunities. The real test of teamwork is in a loss. Typically, championship teams play until the final buzzer, no matter what the score is. Another business owner was telling me that various milestones would not have been met if it hadn’t been for her great team. She explained that they all understood their roles and were willing to take direction from her which led to success. It’s probably also true that they performed well as a team since this business owner tends to be a collaborative leader and encourages feedback and initiative from her people.

5. Bring your own ice.

One image that really stuck with me was Nathan Horton pouring a bottle of water on the ice. It turned out that he brought some melted ice from Boston Garden to bring luck and the feeling that playing in Vancouver was still playing on home ice.There is probably some kind of pychological sense that it’s “yours” and feels familiar. This can be an edge when the stakes are high. As a business leader, you can “bring your own ice” too. It could be literal like a favorite pen, coffee/tea mug or your smartphone. There could be a routine you do at the office that you can replicate when you’re out. The key thing here is to be yourself, comfortable and loose.

 Winning is a collection of intentional choices and habits.

The Bruins, including their coach, thought about how they wanted to approach each series as they progressed towards the Stanley Cup Finals. While doing the same doesn’t guarantee winning every time, it does mean that you will always be ready to play and trust yourself.

Usually I avoid writing a post that refers to a holiday here in the US. Lots of readers of this blog come from all over the world so keeping themes focused on business is about inclusivity. But for this holiday, I’m making an exception.

It’s Independence Day in the US. It began with an amazing document, the Declaration of Independence, which has inspired parts of the French Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizens of 1789 as well as parts of  the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations. If you’re into history, the ways this document has shaped America and how we think about equality is also pretty fascinating but that’s a post for someone else.

Pursuing happiness is an inalienable right.

It may be a right but why are we pursuing it?  What does that really mean? If you follow some of the recent research about entrepreneurship, it appears that 80% of startups are being founded by people over 35. After the Great Recession, there are lots of people who are in position to follow their dreams. And maybe that is what pursuing happiness is about. Take a look at your business…what is it that draws you back again and again?

Maybe I should back up a little. How do you define happiness anyway? Like a lot of emotions, it really is on a spectrum and ranges from pleasure, enjoyment, contentment, joy to ecstasy. But what fuels our happiness often is something brings meaning or an aesthetic. For example, many people find a massage makes them happy. The meaning here is one of self-care and human touch. Others feel happy when they hit a sales goal. The thrill of seeing one’s skills in action and getting the win feels good! I have a friend who celebrated a successful moment in her business by buying herself a cocktail ring. This combined her pleasure in her good performance as well as wearing a beautiful piece of jewelry.

If we parse apart the pursuit  of happiness, it seems that engaging in the process is a basic human right.

It certainly is a hunger that we all experience. Think back to your Intro to Psychology class and Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  In his Safety Needs, Maslow noted that people need health and well-being. While we can argue whether it is truly a hierarchy or not, the point is that we need to feel positively. Within the human experience, we seek a positive way of being. Notice all of the gurus, religious/spiritual authorities and other people who are encouraging us to think  positively. (Okay, I’m in there too since healthy thinking is one of my passions.)

More and more, work has to be more than just a place you show up and complete tasks that earn us money. Having the opportunity to gain our happiness is something all people not only hunger for but are endowed with automatically. Leading your business is how you’ve created an avenue to fulfill your own desire for happiness.

Leading a business feels good.

Yeah…sure, there are days when you would really like to be doing something else. There is a problem with meeting a deadline, a customer is unhappy or there are economic pressures that are difficult to manage. On the other hand, we have the joy of making the decisions, creating the vision of where the business goes next and even encouraging what new products or services are created and sold. But underlying all of this is that sense of creating meaning and purpose. If your business is big enough, you are in a position to invite your employees to experience meaning and purpose. The combination of our aspirations and skills is a potent mix!  

How are you exercising your right to pursue happiness?

What does it mean to you?

From emerging markets to established markets, there are a lot of challenges impacting our businesses. If you read The Economist, their outlook is definitely not rosy. Natural disasters, scarce jobs and rising costs are in the news.  In the recent March Discover Small Business Watch, it was reported that 14% of small businesses “may not recover”. If that isn’t enough, there could be internal challenges that could also impact your business. 

How do you know when it’s time to go?

In our next #kaizenblog chat, we are talking about when to close the doors on your business. To start the conversation, Fox Business Small Business Center had an interesting list of reasons that it may be time to close your business.

1. Loss of passion

2. Call it quits when the potential reward is no longer worth the risk

3. You’re taking the skeptical view of everything

4. No repeat customers=no new customers

5. Read the signs

6. Is your pride or optimism steering you wrong?

7. Are you all in?

8. Feedback is everything

9. Believing that quitting is an option

10. Be careful of demand

Could you throw the towel in too soon?

Turnarounds are hard work. Each of the reasons listed in the Fox Business Small Business Center aren’t necessarily death knells on their own. It is our choices that make thing permanent. We have to take stock and tell ourselves the truth of what is happening to us on a personal level. We may be experiencing personal crises involving our health or members of our families. Sometimes we reach a milestone that makes us take a look at where we are in our lives. Maybe we need to hire someone who has certain skills that will complement our own. Maybe we need to fire someone who is not performing according to our expectations. The interesting thing about this list is how many of the items actually lead back to the leader’s thinking.

So how do you know if it’s time to quit and move on or get cracking on a turnaround?

What does quitting really mean?

*Join us to discuss when quitting makes the most sense on the Twitter chat, #kaizenblog on Friday, May 6th at 12pm ET/5 pm BST/9am PT.

It has been awhile since I’ve posted a recap or transcript for the Twitter chat #kaizenblog. Since then, our transcript service has shut down so I’m looking for a new service, system or volunteer who wants to create the transcript. The transcript for this chat was retrieved from Twitter Search so it took some time to clean it up so it is more accessible.

Please note that there are no time stamps and the posts are backwards, In other words, the last tweets are first and you’ll find the discussion goes backwards. If it is easier, go to the end of the transcript and scroll up as you read. The questions and the discussion will make more sense. As always, I didn’t edit anyone’s grammar or spelling.

This was  a great conversation and spawned some ideas for future topics such as how global events affect local businesses and how we handle unmet expectations.

Here’s the transcript: kaizenblog Transcript Quarter 1 of 2011 vs Quarter 1 of 2010: Similiarities and Expectations

Please feel free to add your questions, comments or suggestions.

*There is NO kaizenblog chat this week due to many people being on holiday or observing religious holy days. We will resume on Friday, April 29th at 12pm ET/5pm BST/9am PT with Neal Schaffer for Part 2 of his topic: “Experimentation and Social Media”.

What is it about business that makes it almost taboo to talk about feelings? Maybe it’s not so much the emotions themselves but the expression of them. On the other hand, there are emotions that our overall culture tries to avoid, even if it is the appropriate response. If we slow things down a bit there are 2 areas we need to master to foster our own success.

1. Know our own emotions

2.  Be able to read other people’s emotions

For a time, emotional intelligence was a popular concept. Is it passe now? It certainly seems so. Yet, when you read books on effective leadership, self-awareness is typically one of the skills that we’re told to develop in ourselves. It may be obliquely recommended but so are the skills needed for the awareness of others. I was talking to a colleague this week and we were wondering if strongly negative (even traumatic) experiences can inform someone on how to handle workplace dysfunction. (We did go with the assumption that people have learned better coping skills so they wouldn’t recreate a situation in which they could be victimized.) If we’re working more collaboratively in teams within our organizations or in alliances with other organizations, then managing emotional health is a piece of building and maintaining relationships.  By bringing all we know, could this change the quality and efficacy of these collaborations?

There is an interesting post on the Harvard Business Review written by Tony Schwartz about an offsite experience he had with members of his company. He talked about the Sanctuary Model and its intersection with Daniel Goleman’s point about how others’ judgements of us can feel as threatening as if they were physically attacking us. Schwartz found it deeply affecting to heart how people from his company, The Energy Project, felt about how he treated them. Since he is the CEO of this company, it was brave of him to stop and listen.

How many of us stop and listen to how others intepret our behavior? This can feel very risky. They might express sadness, anger, disappointment, delight, awe, admiration or a host of other emotions. For leaders of organizations, this could induce feelings of obligation and guilt. I have heard so many small business owners express feeling anxiety, and even intimdation, at the idea that they have so much influence over people’s lives.

What would happen if I asked you “how are you feeling”? Okay, it’s a no brainer to say, “it depends.” In business, it is not always safe to reveal your feelings.  Since you need to know the level of safety, emotional intelligence is an essential skill. If you can read other people well, it helps with finding the right words or knowing when to be silent. When you know what is happening inside you, you can choose how and if you want to express your feeling state.  The skills in emotional intelligence are a big piece in preventing and containing conflict as well as negotiating.

But what if the question is really not a “how” but  a “what”? When I was a practicing psychotherapist, I learned the hard way why asking “what” is a very different question. What are you feeling? See, when you ask “how are you feeling”, it is easy for someone to give you the glib answer of “fine”. Asking “what are you feeling” can be a major breach or a gift. It means you have to slow down and see the person as he/she really is. It also means that you enter a relationship (or deepen one) with this person.

Do business leaders have an duty to display emotions in a healthier way? Of course!  Think of how many times you’ve seen a business leader who has tantrums, addictions or some other negative behavior. What was his/her organization like?  Now think of how many times you’ve seen a business leader who stops to pay attention and listen to someone, exhibits appropriate humor or some other positive behavior? What was his/her organization like?

What place does emotional intelligence have in the current business environment?

What emotions are considered safe to express?

How would you design a workplace that encourages healthy expressions of feelings?

  *Join us on the Twitter chat, #kaizenblog this Friday, February  at 12pm ET/5pm GMT/9am PT to discuss “Is Emotional Intelligence Still Important?”

We’re all looking for the magic bullet of business success. If I do X, then my business will hit the big time. Or if I do Y, my business will never have a worry again. It was my pleasure to invite my friend, Les to be our guest host on #kaizenblog when we took on the idea that there is one must-have for business success. Les McKeown is the President & CEO of Predictable Success, the leading advisor on accelerated business growth. He has has started over 40 companies in his own right, and was the founding partner of an incubation consulting company that advised on the creation and growth of hundreds more organizations worldwide.He is also is the author of the WSJ and USA Today Best-seller, “Predictable Success: Getting Your Organization On the Growth Track – and Keeping It There”

So we jumped into this conversation with a framing post by Les, “The First Lego Piece” . The actual conversation started with How do you describe a great business? Les described “a great business is one that it truly sustainable – by which I  mean specifically it has 3 things: 1. consistently profitable; 2. mostly fun to work in, and…most importantly, 3. Not dependent soley on the founder/owners for its existence.”

• Parissa Behnia: “a1 beyond profitable, ‘m not sure it can be described..but sometimes it can be felt…profitable but awful environment is not sustainable long term. there are human needs that are abstract”
• Amber Cleveland: “A1 Great biz knows their Mission, Values,  -everything they do is in line w/ -they live their brand.”
• Richard Winter : “A1 A great business to me is where vision leads to efficient execution resulting in profits”
• Caroline Di Diego: “Profitable +++ with great group of people ~ the people make you profitable”

Since sustainability seemed to resonate with many of the chat participants, we wondered, What are the fundamentals of growing a sustainable business? Les identified, “focus, discipline, consistency, and perseverance. The underlying product or service & even the funding don’t  matter in the end.”

• Richard Winter “A2 Scalable infrastructure, desirable product or service and a commitment to customer service”
• Rayna Fagen: “might be 3 perspectives to this–what company mgmt views, what the customer views, & the employees”
• Stephen Denny: A2 I think fundamental element of sustainable biz is “grow slow” – counterintuitive, but seems to be predictor”
• Judy Gombita: “A2. Knowing the market before the (potential) customers/clients know it! (Boom, Bust, and Echo)”
• Frederique Murphy: ”A2 Passion, Loving your niche and knowing your why; your why is powerful driver, the fuel for a sustainable journey”
• Linda Naiman : “A2 A great biz is also well designed: products, services, processes, biz mode, policies”
• Cathy Larkin: “Q2 sustainable biz pillars? Great product,  a biz that knows its market/customers & adapts when needed”

During this question, there was an active conversation about passion and if it can be hindrance or help. Well worth checking out the transcript (Transcript for #kaizenblog – Whats1MustHaveForSuccessfulBiz) around the 5:30 mark to see the details.

Given the back and forth about passion and financials, What is the most essential building block of a great business? Les explained, “For me, it is incredibly mundane, It’s what I call…your ‘personal processing ecosystem’. In other words, the ability to handle 3 things: 1. Time management 2. Priority management and 3. Crisis management. Without those, you can’t grow a sustainable business, because you’ll be constantly derailed by the mundane.”

• Stephen Denny: “Greatest building block is having the right people. The 20x developers, the core team”
• Parissa Behnia “Q3 knowing you don’t know something and need help, seek answers”
• Amber Cleveland: “A3 Most essential building block – MVV (Mission, Vision, Values) build your foundation from this”
• Cathy Larkin: “A3 I think one over looked piece of yr 3 points is Attitude. not polyanna but positive I can SOLVE this…”
• Richard Winter: “A3 A truly scalable infrastructure that doesn’t require significant hires in non-customer facing disciplines”
• Elaine Rogers: “A3 trust in self as a builder of business is so important before all else (I believe)”

It was great seeing everyone really engage with the ideas being shared and exploring Les’ advice on developing a successful business. We moved a little deeper into the conversation by asking, How does the fundamental building block become the foundation of a sustainable business? Les described, “Time, priority and crisis mgt produce the right environment for growing your sustainable business. In business, challenges should be challengs. Without a personal processing ecosystem, *everything* is a challenge.” This response seem to resonate with everyone in the chat. The focus on implementation (or execution) really brought home how the ingredients of vision, passion, planning and the other business tools combine to create a sustainable business.

How would you answer the discussion questions?

What do you have in place that will lead to a sustainable business?

When you’ve been in business for a while, you look back at the early days and remember what you did. Have you ever wondered what you were thinking? Maybe even had a rueful chuckle at your own expense about what you didn’t know? I think a lot of us have done that.

All kinds of people start businesses. Some are excited about their idea and figure they’ll learn as they go. Others do a lot of research before they even start. While these are extremes on both ends, where did you fall? I can’t tell you how many people have told me about wanting to have their fantasy lives made real. This is not to say that this can’t happen. Frankly, it’s embedded in my work with small business owners that everyone finds a way to have their dreams and aspirations become everyday reality.

But sometimes getting there has a few potholes:

• You need money to start a business. The amount needed can depend on what industry you’re in. Some businesses are virtual so you might need enough to pay for the initial founding costs and emergency funds. Franchises, affiliates and even stand-alone businesses have startup costs that can be overlooked when it seems like your chosen business is your golden ticket.
• It is hard work to build up your first client base. One of my early clients experienced this one. She wanted to be a personal chef but discovered that she would have to do a lot of networking to get her name out there. This became disheartening for her and closed down her business even before she really did anything.
• To get VC funding, you have to bootstrap, bring your idea to market and put in a great deal of work before they invest. It can be a long slog for some. The magic idea that you just have to pitch and people throw money at you is just that, magic. I know this one entrepreneur in bio-energy started off with one idea and discovered he had to revamp his technology to make it easier to sell and prove that it is viable. The great part of this story is that he won a business plan contest and A round funding. When we last spoke, he was just about to receive his next round of funding.
• You’re going to work more hours than you expected. It’s not that you won’t have flexible hours. It’s just that the hours may amount to more than you imagined.
• There are behaviors and expectations that you’re supposed to know already. Little things like how to arrange a mutually satisfying alliance with someone, how to combine business and a recreational activity (golf, tennis, boating, etc.) or asking someone to hire you.

There are definitely more potholes that we encounter as we work for ourselves. If you haven’t experienced some of the potholes I mentioned above, think of what tripped you up along the way.

If we knew then what we know now, what would we do differently?

Are there any “dirty little secrets” that you wish you knew from the beginning about owning your own business?

*Join us for the Twitter chat, #kaizenblog on this Friday at 12pm ET/5pm GMT/9am PT for our topic.”The Dirty Little Biz Secrets You Wish You Knew From the Start”. We’d love to hear what you’ve observed, experienced and learned since you started in business.

This post started from a Twitter conversation with Margie Clayman and Caroline Di Diego about a post written by Carol Roth titled “At the Business Table, Where Are the Ladies?”. In this post, Roth talked about how there are so many men who are acknowledged as experts and gurus in their fields while there are very few women represented in the same way. But if you were to test yourself, which women come to mind with equal stature. They are out there! Are you familiar with Liz Strauss, Aliza Sherman, Valeria Maltoni or Lisa Petrilli? These women are just a few of the many out there doing great work that is changing the world. Margie Clayman followed up with her own post, “Women Don’t Want a League of Our Own” and asked how separate but equal can still exist in the 21st century business world?

I suppose I should add my disclaimer here…I have mixed feelings about women-centered business groups and intiatives. I think it’s only fair that you know this from the start. No, I don’t think they are completely bad or wrong. And…if your business focuses on women, then it would be ridiculous to eliminate them from your marketing plan. Just so you know, my feelings come from participating in women-centered business groups as a member and leader.

So how does separating the women in business from the men in business limit growth? This is where my mixed feelings are most apparent. For some of us, we need a place to begin that seems safe to test our ideas and ourselves. A lot of women seek a place where they believe it is acceptable to discuss business and personal life seamlessly. And that’s fine for a start but this cannot be the stopping point.

It’s not that women should not have these groups. In my small business coaching, my question is not “what are you doing?” but “why are you doing that?” Most groups have their merits and women can find these valuable places for ideas, connections and encouragement. So join NAWBO, NAFE, attend women-centered business conferences or blog on a women-only business site. Use these groups as a springboard to where you envision your business is going. But there are some things to consider if you make this your only focus.

• It makes women invisible. Did you know there is a TED talk for women? What are they talking about? There are important, world-changing ideas that are not being shared. As an example, funding for women entrepreneurs and their startups can be hard to find because venture capitalists don’t know the individual’s track history. Equity companies tend to invest in people they already know.
• It keeps women off the hook. For a number of women, staying separate from the men in business allows them to not stretch beyond their comfort zone. Getting into the elite business thinkers means risking rejection and learning to manage a multitude of personalities. It also means we don’t learn more sophisticated philosphies or business practices. Could you be elite material but playing it safe?
• It allows cultural norms and sexism to continue. Separate has never been equal. Are we minimizing someone’s talent because she built a successful skincare company or has a chain of assisted-living facilities? There can be the perception that someone is pushy because she simply asked for a sale. If there is still a message that “nice girls do not (fill in the blank), are we missing out on socially acceptable behaviors that will transform our businesses? Having different rules for each gender in the business world stifles innovation and competition.

What do you think? I could very well be off base. My experience is certainly not the be-all, end-all of what is possible. Men don’t have a monopoly on the best way to do anything in business. They have good ideas and women have good ideas. What if we had a fuller conversation? According to research, businesses who have women in high-level decision-making positions (c-level, board of directors) tend to perform better than businesses who have main men in these positions. 

I’m not saying eliminate all of the women-centered business initiatives. Many of them serve important functions (e.g. Make Mine a Million). I merely ask one question…

Why do (some) women in business keep themselves separate?

The recent horrible shooting in Tucson, Arizona and the subsequent questions asked by the media and public figures about language got me thinking about the words we use in our business conversations. There are so many analogies and words we use to describe the competitive nature of business. There is a segment of business who see the practice of planning and strategizing as if they are planning to go to war with their competitors.

Is this true for small business? Is it really true for any size business? Let’s be very clear…if you are in business, you are in competition with someone. In some industries, this competition is fierce and other companies will exploit any weakness you may have. But is this war?

War includes carnage and destruction. Read books like On Killing by Dave Grossman or All Quiet On the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque to get a better picture of what war entails. When you talk about your market or your competitors, are you seeking to destroy them or just beat them? Leaving a trail of destruction seems to be antithetical to running an ethical business. Yes, I know not everyone has the same value system but destruction? This is a desired result?

Language makes a difference. Take for example, the word, target. If you look at most of the definitions for this word, it involves something to aim a weapon at or hunting something or someone. We often describe our most ideal clients as our target market. Are we really hunting them? Are we aiming and shooting something at them? Even the word, strategy, has military connotations primarily. So, if you are considering that business is really some masked war we wage upon each other, then the way you will implement your business plan is a series of attacks on your competitors and preferred clients.

There is a growing movement within business that is seeking an alternative. Instead of targeting their ideal customer as a form of prey, businesses are seeking to develop relationships. Recent sales training adaptations focus on listening to your prospect and answering their concerns. Even some businesses are seeking collaborative relationships (not mergers) with their colleagues. Dan Pink in Drive and his other work focuses on our desires for autonomy, meaning and purpose. Seth Godin is encouraging us to start our own Tribe. People are not willing to tolerate the old way of “command and control type” of leadership in business organizations. This style is  necessary in military organizations but they have a completely different mission than a business.

Language matters. I talk about this a lot and I have focused mainly on how we talk to ourselves. However, it is time to  think about how we talk about our businesses, our goals, how we want to achieve them and our competitors overall. What would happen if you changed your use of “target market” to “desired market”? Pay attention to how you talk about the position of your business, your competitors and your customers. Is your lanaguge action-oriented in a combative way or a competitive way? Are there words worth keeping?

There is nothing wrong with being highly competitive! If you want your business to be successful, it is important to get into action and work hard using highly effective practices and the best technology you can afford. Maybe it’s more of the idea of “playing hard and playing to win.” The trouble with taking a combative stance with your competitors and your customers is that you bring that style into every aspect of your life. Being on guard becomes a habit in speech and behavior.

What words do you find in your business vocabulary?

What happens if we reject the “business is war mentality” and think about competition in a different way?

I’d say at this point most businesses of all sizes are using social media in one form or another. I know in the Twitter chat (#kaizenblog) that I host, we talk about social media and its uses quite a lot. And, truth be told, we are big fans. After all, we all met via a social media networking site.

But how do we know what works best? Who do we listen to? How do we know “they” are right? Valeria Maltoni has written posts about influencers and how to apply filtering questions that will help us determine if we’re getting snake oil or legitimate information. The other day, my friend, Danny wrote a post, Why We Can’t Give Up urging us to go forth and develop ourselves as influencers who have something worthy to share despite it seeming like an uphill battle.

Whether you’re a small business owner or in a larger organization and new to social media, it can be confusing to know how to use it effectively. We’re told so many things about how to use it and there are certain people who get  lots of attention. Yes, even in the virtual world, there seem to be people who are the “Popular Kids.” But do they deserve to be? There are several ways you can game social media but is that consistent with how you run your business usually? We post things on our blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites to get people to notice us and our business. We want to attract new clients by positioning ourselves as experts in our fields. There is nothing wrong with that. Social media is a tool. The trouble lies in the crazy amount of hype that surround some of the so-called experts. We start wondering, “if I do what that person does, I can be big too?”

Some questions come to mind about filtering social media advice:

1.. What makes that person an expert in social media?

2. Does he/she (pick your favorite guru or the most recent favorite) give advice that fits my business?

3. Do I have the time/money/people/resources to do what the expert is telling me to do?

4. What will I gain from becoming an influencer?

5. What are uses for social media are there beyond marketing my business?

Can someone who is less flashy and has a message that resonates be just as good a resource as the “rockstar”?

So how do you weed out the influencers with the best advice on how to use social media?

*For this week’s Twitter chat, #kaizenblog, we’re discussing week’s “Social Media-Snake Oil, Noise & Filters” this Friday at 12pm ET/5pm GMT/9am PT. I hope you can join us!