February 21, 2008 by Kyle.

I went to a Billy Joel concert last year. Great show. As many performers do, Billy Joel introduced the band during the concert.

Drummer, backup vocals, keyboard player…

Wait. Keyboard player?

Billy Joel is a fantastic pianist. In fact, he is often known by the title of one of his early hits, The Piano Man. So how tough is that job interview - keyboard player for Billy Joel?

Even though most people don’t know the name, Dave Rosenthal, he is clearly an extraordinary musician - a Black Belt, if you will, because he has put in the time, honed his skills, and chased his goal of being a world class musician.

It was great watching Billy Joel play his grand piano while Dave maneuvered around his numerous keyboards and synthesizers.

What are you a “Black Belt” at? In what area do you seek to be world class?

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February 18, 2008 by Kyle.

Judge at a beauty pageant!

How cool is that! You get to stare at beautiful women and rate them - without your wife giving you a hard time!

Wow, Kyle, how do you get a gig like that?

I met the pageant director at a business function. She found out I was a professional speaker and later contacted me about being one of the judges since the contestants’ verbal presentations were critical in the scoring.

In this particular pageant, the women had 30 seconds to tell the judges and audience about their platform or social issue (such as childhood obesity, scoliosis, illiteracy, etc.).

Their score for that 30 second presentation counted for half of the total - as much as the evening gown and fitness wear combined (sorry, no swimsuits at this particular pageant).

30 seconds to engage the audience, articulate their message, make it concise yet compelling. 30 seconds to make eye contact - with the entire room.

It’s easy to give a 45-minute speech. Very difficult to nail a 30-second presentation.

How would you do?

In front of hundreds of people. Being scored by judges.

Work on your presentation skills. You may not become Miss Ohio or Miss America, but those skills can help you become Miss Division Manager or Mr. Vice-President of Marketing.

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February 3, 2008 by Kyle.

My wife and I recently flew to Corpus Christi, Texas with my sister-in-law and her pilot husband in his Beechcraft Bonanza airplane. If you’re not familiar with a Bonanza, it’s a small, single engine airplane that holds 4 people. You can buy one for about $120,000.

It was an adventure for us! Flying at 6000 feet, looking at landmarks, listening to the air traffic controllers on our headsets.

A few minutes after we landed at Corpus Christi, another aircraft landed and stopped nearby. It was a Hawker jet. Nice airplane! It’s a $10 million aircraft.

Now, here’s the test. A lot of people would have seen that gorgeous Hawker jet and envy would have ruined their whole trip.

“Wow, I’d give anything to have an airplane like that…”
“Can you imagine what it would be like to ride in that jet?”
“Boy, we could have cut 3 hours off our travel time in a plane like that.”

My brother-in-law admired the Hawker but commented, “Yeah, it’s nice, but I couldn’t afford the fuel it would take just to start it up.”

We continued our trip and had a fantastic time, grateful for the time to spend with family, grateful for a safe flight, rather than griping about what we didn’t have.

What are you grateful for? Do you give thanks or spew complaints? Would your spouse agree?
Your co-workers?

Give thanks this week for something you normally take for granted.

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February 3, 2008 by Kyle.

I sent an email to the Technical Support people recently to ask a question about their software. I soon got an email back from a gentleman who assured me he would be glad to help me, but first required me to give him my email address.

Huh?

Dude, check the email message you just sent me, and look in the “TO” box. That’s my email address.

Unbelieveable.

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January 29, 2008 by Kyle.

Speaking of football playoffs (see the Jan 28 post), did you ever notice how the winning team members are sporting their official “Conference Champions” ball caps 27 seconds after the final buzzer?

That’s either an incredible example of just-in-time merchandising or else the Packers have several boxes of hats and t-shirts that proclaim Green Bay as the NFC champs.

I looked on eBay. They’re not there.

What do you suppose they do with all those hats that are factually wrong?

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January 28, 2008 by Kyle.

Everyone is gearing up for the Super Bowl next week. Patriots vs. Giants. Most people can identify the 2 starting quarterbacks, even if they’re not big fans. Brady vs. Eli Manning. Both spectacular athletes and quarterbacks.

But do you know who some of the other players are? Say, left tackle for the New York Giants? If you’re a hard core fan from New York you might know. Or a lineman who plays college football looking to go pro might know. Or my nephew Joey in Cleveland who is “ate up” with sports trivia would know. But most of us don’t know who the starting left tackle will be in one of the biggest sporting events of the year.

David Diehl is his name. I don’t know anything about him other than he must be one of the best in the world at what he does. A true Black Belt. (see Jan 15th post)

Not a household name, but one of the top football players in the world as evidenced by his appearance in the Super Bowl.

Do you take your job that seriously? You don’t have to be a household name to achieve excellence. Are you a Black Belt at what you do?

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January 15, 2008 by Kyle.

My brand as a professional speaker is The Black Belt Speaker. Since I’ve practiced martial arts and hold the rank of Black Belt, I thought it was appropriate.

I even wear a judo gi (uniform) on stage when I’m doing a presentation.

But the brand goes deeper than that. I quit my safe job as a training manager and HR manager with a state government agency to become a full-time professional speaker. I was a good trainer, but I’m going to be a phenomenal speaker - a Black Belt.

Just like I learned everything I could about judo and aikido and practiced constantly, I work on my speaking business with that same intensity. I am a serious student of professional speaking - from platform skills to marketing to customer service.

Are you a Black Belt in your career or your industry? Black Belt Nurse? Black Belt Plumber? Black Belt Accountant?

If not, why not?

Don’t tell me you’re going to settle for green belt…

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January 15, 2008 by Kyle.

I like to jog. Well, I don’t like it that much, but it’s my choice of activities for exercise. It gives me time to think. It helps keep my weight in check. And it keeps me from feeling like a slug.

So I run. I’m thinking about running the Oklahoma City Memorial marathon this spring. 26 miles. 26 long miles.

I went for a long run last week. 13 miles. It took me about 2 hours. Whew!

The most difficult 10 steps I took were the steps to walk into the other room to put my running shoes on.

What’s your challenge? Get started! That’s the tough part. Once you put your shoes on, the rest of the journey will follow.

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January 14, 2008 by Kyle.

Communication is tough enough. Even when you know the correct words and know exactly what you’re talking about, the message can still get fouled up.

My wife and I have a running joke about our two worlds. She comes from a hotel & restaurant background. I’m from the world of wildlife management. Imagine my excitement when she asked if I wanted to accompany her one year to the NRA convention. I’m thinking Smith & Wesson, Glock, all the big firearms manufacturers will be at the Natioinal Rifle Assoication meeting.

But she soon corrects me. “No, you big goober, the National Restaurant Association.”

Oh. Well, OK, at least I can eat my way through the booths at the trade show!

Some other examples of communications miscues in our two industries:

–Mousse - delicious, fluffy dessert
–Moose - a large antlered animal common in Canada

–”in the weeds” - to me, a person or animal literally hiding in the tall grass. However, in the restaurant industry, in the weeds means you’re running behind. For example the kitchen staff that is short-handed takes longer getting your food out because they’re in the weeds.

–bullets - for me, bullets refers to ammunition for my .30-06 deer rifle. My wife thinks bullets are an itemized list of ingredients or tasks on a memo.

So even when you know that you know what you’re talking about, your message may still not be clear. Be sure to run your message through your experiential filters and consider the backgrounds of others to make sure they understand your message.

Or, after your lovely dinner, you may just have to enjoy the moose!

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January 4, 2008 by Kyle.

My resolution is to eat less broccoli. I don’t live with my mom so I think I’m safe.

Actually resolutions are pretty worthless. Just go by the gym for the first couple of weeks in January. It’s pretty busy. Then go back in mid-February. Those New Years Resolutionists will have cleared out by then and the regulars can get back on their favorite piece of equipment without having to wait.

Most of us just happen to be in the habit of being lazy, staying in our comfort zone, and won’t take action to change that until there’s a crisis: heart attack, getting fired, bankruptcy, divorce, your kid gets arrested.

Duh, maybe I should do something different.

But most of us won’t.

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