June 08 - Back, and off again!

read previous ezines grouped by themes

These 3 guys on Venice Beach just looked like an album cover to me. The beaches are so flat there!

So, I spent most of May in New York and Connecticut. It was a 4 weeks of stimulus, and I have to say it's taken me more than 2 weeks to settle in.

And in about 2 weeks I'm off to Vietnam for an exciting client gig, and then back to the USA (Chicago this time) for a 5 week impro intensive! I figure we independent consultants don't do enough sabbaticals and long service leave is such a fantasy. So New York was Long Service Leave, and this will be a 5 week sabbatical!

I've started a blog for the trip, which is pretty empty right now. You can maybe go visit at cindytonkin.blogspot.com in July.

Looking forward to it

Cindy

p.s. there won't be an ezine in July: the next one will be late August

In this month's ezine we have:

• Improving your consultancy: innovating to stay in business; working to your strengths
• Managing better: improvising in business, inspiring quotes and action man
• Fascinating: "changents" and parking your left brain
• Fun: Wikipedia Tours

Your Consulting
business

Bachelor Cigars - an advertising clock (see right)

What innovations are happening in your business?

The clock on the left is an "advertising clock", a phenomenon when clocks were too expensive for individuals to own. In Connecticut we visited in one day 3 museums: A clock and watch museum, a lock museum, and a carousel museum.

Each was a fascinating excursion into obsession. The clock and the lock museum were also lessons in the need to constantly innovate in business: towns were built on clock and lock businesses which died... now all that's left is the museum and an empty factory.

How are you upgrading your consultancy skills and contacts? It's not just about going to courses, it's about meeting people, hearing new ideas, trying something different. And of course it's not just about innovating to stay alive, it's also about keeping you interested in the business. Keeping your brain active keeps you young and vital!

Work with your strengths

When I wrote the chapters in the Consultant's Guide about marketing without cold calling I did so because not only did I hate cold calling, I constantly got questions in seminars about "how do I get over my fear of cold calling".

What I have discovered from talking with people and from being in my own business for a while now (16 years in November!), is that you don't have to get over the fear. You just have to do something else which you don't fear. Business has always magically appeared for me, and now I'm noticing how long the lead times can be (and how haphazard: chance meetings, favours done for friends, freebies for not for profits...).

So check out this ChangeThis Manifesto from David Rendall, who has packaged the idea of working to your strengths as "Freak Factor".

Managing better

Statue of a saint in the Cloisters, a museum at the top of Manhattan where some rich guy collected the "best of" European churches and put it all in one place. Would have loved that job!

Impro in business: working at the top of your intelligence

Here's a change this manifesto from a musical improviser, likening improvisation in business to a "diving catch" in a ball game. It says a lot of things I love about comedic/theatrical improvisation. The opening paragraph says it all

"Recall that moment when you where your most creative, aware, and tuned into the world around you. Imagine how valuable it would be to harness that state of mind and apply it at will to your most stressful and challenging business situations"... Read it yourself.

Inspiration for leaders, learners and self-improvers

I came upon this cool site this week: a series of great graphics and pithy quotes from famous people. Here are some I like, and go check out your own.

"Personally, I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught" - Winston Churchill.

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes" - Billy Connolly

"Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them"- Albert Einstein.

"Your successes and happiness are forgiven only if you generously consent to share them" Albert Camus.

Get it done: Action item man

If you've been to a meeting lately with a little corporate-project speak, or ever played "buzzword bingo", you'll appreciate action item man comic, courtesy of Glen Bell from Visual Explanations.

Fascinating

Obligatory NY taxi shot.

Back a changent

Do your bit for the world: visit changents.com, and become a "backer" to spread the word for people who are launching initiatives to fix global warming, teen wilderness, education - choose your cause and support them!

So if you parked your left brain?

Link below to fascinating and moving video on how the brain works from a brain expert who had a stroke. She outlines what it's like to lose left brain function; fascinating stuff!

And Fun, fun, fun

Yankee stadium about half an hour after the game started (It filled up later!)

Wethersfield, Connecticut. The sort of New England town with story book cottages and friendly bar staff that you find in TV shows like the Gilmore Girls.

Go tour wikipedia

So Wikipedia comes up whenever I google a general knowledge question (like, do I need to take a anti-malaria medicine if I'm in Ho Chi Minh City in an air conditioned hotel for 3 days?).

DailyLit have launched Wikipedia tours - they send you a different wikipedia link every day to add to your body of knowledge in a subject you choose.

You can educate yourself a link at a time on Famous Poets, Famous Women, World Capitals, the Wonders of the World, Best Picture Oscar winners, Major Religions... it goes on. Go find something cool!

Improvisation goes on!

Scared Scriptless is in hiatus at the moment. Maybe by the time I get back from my impro classes in Chicago, I'll have some shows to tell you about!

Let me know what you like about this ezine - or anything you'd like to see more of!

C

Cindy Tonkin The Consultants’ Consultant
Certified Management Consultant

unsubscribe

This month's images are original works ©2008 Cindy Tonkin. See more here.

Read more ezines by month

Read previous ezines grouped by themes