NETWORLDING

Networlding Presents: Laura Hansen

Well, let’s just say that Laura is “diversified” or – a renaissance woman!  When Laura and I met back in 1995, Laura was certainly focused on business and there was not much more but a great network and family.  She was born and raised in the direct marketing and call center business.  The journey into direct marketing started in 1983.  So, this background allowed her to acquire substantial experience in launching and executing the call center component of campaigns  for AT&T Wireless, Oprah Magazine, American Express and Allstate just to name a few.

Although business allows one to use their brain for all kinds of things, her creative side was only being fostered and used primarily for problem solving.  In 2004, Laura's world changed and she left the CEO position of managing an outsourced call center to become a consultant to the industry.  She added teaching direct marketing at DePaul University, consulting with Wall Street on telephony and call center technology and a few other things to her repertoire.

The creative side yearned for more.  and Laura started to cook…….with a vengeance.  She says that there’s a certain Zen to all of that chopping. Certainly, there is also a satisfaction when her friends and family LOVE the food.  She became engaged in studying the craft and learned that there is a lot to really understanding the culinary arts.  The next expansion came when Laura and I were brainstorming about what to do with the cooking and her love of writing.  The dining blog was born!  At first, Laura was only a participant.  She would write reviews of restaurants and send them along.  Now, she is the writer, content aggregator and chief bottle washer for www.bestofthebestdiningchicago.com.  The blog is flourishing and continues to grow.

All of the creative juices were going to cooking and writing – so why not painting!  Laura began to paint (abstract on canvas) in March of 2007.  Like Forest Gump, she kept going.  She had the vision of being in a gallery and selling her paintings to anyone that could see the energy and magnetism of what manifested through the brush.  Mission accomplished! Her work is featured in Hayley Gallery in Columbus, Ohio.  With the help of very supportive friends and family, she has also sold many paintings and she has a blog:  www.laurahansenartgallery.com. 

This is a story of transformation.  It’s funny how little courage it really takes to do what one is compelled and driven to do the effortless work by your passion and spirit.

Networlding Presents: Marsha Marsh

Marsha Marsh is one of the best coaches I have met in my twenty years of coaching, training and consulting, so it is a pleasure to introduce you to her and her work. Following is a recent interview I had the pleasure of doing with Marsha.

Melissa: Marsha, in Networlding we emphasis value-based networking. What are your top values and how do they play out in your daily work?

Marsha: One of the top values that I discovered after doing a great amount of coaching is "making a difference." I started to notice how important each client is to me--whether they are spending $50 or $500 I am as present. It really made me see that making a difference was more important than anything else to me. 

Collaboration is a second value. Every voice is important--even the unpopular voices in a group. These voices are important to the outcomes of a group. Synergistic collaboration is probably an even more accurate term for my value as I love to see the creative combination of diverse voices coming together to achieve unique and powerfully successful outcomes.

Melissa: Marsha, share a quick story of how you made a difference in the life of one of your clients recently.

Marsha: I was working on assisting a team at a Fortune 500 company create a more positive environment in order to handle the excessive demands on their time. Just like many workplaces, this team was required to give longer hours with fewer people which was taking a large toll on their individual and group productivity.

My two days of group coaching followed by individual coaching helped them build skills to reduce stress and increase group alignment through the development of a cohesive environment and camaraderie. They are learning to value each other more; they are also taking shared ownership. By valuing the diversity of each team member as opposed to judging it as wrong, they are using conflict as a stepping stone to innovation. They are actually now working as "one heart." The manager I was working with was so pleased that she referred me to a number of other managers. The team found a common language which will help them get to innovating much quicker. That's where the satisfaction comes for me through results like these.

Melissa: So what do you want to do next?

Marsha: I'm interested in more speaking engagements, reaching a wider audience and more team coaching. I am also working hard at developing my blog. I want to help companies see new ways to help their teams learn collaboration. These new, cutting-edge practices can realize results and sustain them even better than current team building practices. When people can really respect and trust each other, they are going to do something different . . . something better.

Melissa: Thanks Marsha. I am sharing your blog link for others: www.marshamarshcoaching.com.

Networlding and LA - Can Sunshine Create Better Networking Results?

California offers a lot of benefits when it comes to networking, especially when it is now only 9 degrees in Chicago. I am visiting my family this week and have been enjoying the bathtub warm weather of Los Angeles.

You have to ask yourself when you get to go from 9 degrees above 0 to 80 degree weather all in the span of four hours, what that sudden change can mean to your attitude toward networking. For me, I think of the conversation I had today with my friend, Tobby. She said it was so cold she was not even going out today. I also find that many of my professional friends have done similar things. It's sad to think that weather can rule our moods and even our success perhaps when it comes to networking.

I know for anyone who has to either get a new job or a new business opportunity it is critical to have a good environment for networking. If you are one of the lucky ones who live in a warm climate I would suggest you just start thinking of people like my friend Tobby in Chicago. It's fun to hibernate at times but when it has now been 4 months and you have been through no fewer than 8 blizzards, you will thank your lucky stars you can connect with your network in sunshine and warmth. The bottomline? Don't take anything for granted. Signing off from "The Windy City."

Melissa Giovagnoli
President, Networlding
melissa@networlding.com
Feel free to offer your comments. Where do you think are the best places to network year round?