According to a recent report by Vistage, the organization that organizes CEO roundtable groups around the country, CEOs are expecting to increase revenues and profits this year.  Below are a few excerpts from the report:

“The Vistage CEO Confidence Index rose to 94.4 in the 2nd quarter 2010 survey, significantly higher than the 69.0 recorded in the 2nd quarter of 2009. The Confidence Index has posted six consecutive quarterly gains, rising to its highest level since the 1st quarter of 2007.”

“In Q2 2010, our CEO members expressed increased assurance in their businesses amidst talk of a double dip recession. While CEOs have lowered their expectations for pace of growth in the overall economy, they remain confident that over the next 12 months, they are well positioned to increase revenues and profits, while hiring new employees. Despite the overall positive outlook, Vistage member CEOs reported the biggest challenge they now face is managing costs, credit and cash flow to maintain liquidity amid persistent uncertainty. Moving forward, a larger emphasis will be placed on offering new products and services to keep and generate new customers.”

“Dr. Richard Curtin, Director of Surveys and Consumers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Vistage consultant for the Confidence Index, notes, “All of the index components rose slightly, except the outlook for the national economy. Despite a weakening economy, CEOs have positioned their firms so that they now expect slowly improving revenues and profits.”

“35% of CEOs surveyed will look to innovation in new products and services as their biggest priority to advance their business over the next three years.”

Click for full Vistage report on CEOs

Getting hired is no accident!

Who do you know that might benefit from this upcoming Teleseries
“Career Success Toolkit” starting September 22,
2010 with career expert Marshall Brown?

Maybe it’s you? A friend? An out-of-work colleague?

http://www.mbrownassociates.com/toolkit/sp.html

In this rare jam-packed program, you’ll learn:

· Secrets to creating a powerful resume that gets you
noticed and opens doors
· How to create compelling cover letters and marketing
letters that GRAB attention
· The best job search strategies for you, including how
to assemble your own job search plan
· How to network like a pro, including how to develop
a great 30-second commercial
· How to ace any interview, get the job offer, and
negotiate for perks and more money
· The Top 10 strategies for ongoing career success…how
to make it to the top and stay there

The “Career Success Toolkit” Teleseries
is a rare chance for you to learn insider secrets,
avoid making common mistakes, AND have fun…
all under the attentive eye of top
career professional Marshall Brown who is
dedicated to your mastery.

Getting Hired Is No Accident!

In today’s job market, resumes have become PURE
MARKETING. If your resume is to open doors for
you—within 10 seconds of landing on an employer’s
desk—your resume MUST sell your value, what you
can offer, and what your unique value offer is.

“Marshall has an uncanny ability to guide his clients to
maintain a motivated job search. His networking
coaching is incredible, and he exceptionally accessible.
In today’s competitive marketplace, it is critical that
executive talent have exceptional guidance to secure
your employment goals. I recommend Marshall,
without reservation.”

- Bill Williams

The best achievers have certain things in common – they
do the same things, they think the same way, they avoid
the same traps, and they distinguish themselves as high
achievers, the ones to watch, the ones to promote.

Learn how to be in the Top 1%…and stay there!

He’ll show you how!

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to
invest in your career success!

Space is strictly limited so sign up today to
receive a $50 Ahead-Of-The-Curve discount by midnight
September 15th.

Only $475
($525 after September 16th)

Sign up here! http://www.mbrownassociates.com/toolkit/sp.html

We are getting ready for back to school, and back to learning isn’t just for the kids!  Here’s one for business leaders.

There’s a learning opportunity that I thought might be of value for you or others you know and I’m excited to share it with you.

The Coaching for Great Work workshop will be held on Thursday, October 7 in Washington, D.C.  This session will be useful for anyone who wants to get better results from their staff through coaching, while avoiding the high costs of hiring external coaches.

You can find the registration and information pages for the workshop at http://LEAPLeadershipAdvantage.com.   The session is $399 per person, which is a tremendous value.  The fabulous Michael Bungay Stanier (of Box of Crayons fame) will be delivering the training and you’ll receive the full one-day Coaching for Great Work training content and materials — this is NOT a sales and marketing program, but skills training with plenty of interaction and practice.  The event is being hosted by Rita Hummel Crowe of LEAP Leadership Advantage. Please plan to join us. I know Rita and Michael personally, and you are guaranteed a powerful event!

Please contact Rita through her site if you have any questions.  While you’re there, I encourage you to sign up for her free eReport and ezine while at the site, as she continually highlights Coaching for Great Work content there.

The direct link for the event is http://leapleadershipadvantage.com/register-for-c4gw.

See you there in October!

“Leaders experience ‘power stress’ , or stress from three functions that could each overwhelm an average brain: having too much to do, dealing with uncertainty, and being seen by others. High stress reduces the capacity to think clearly, and reduces people’s ability to come up with creative solutions to complex problems.”  ~  David Rock

(from David’s recent article in the Washington Post about Obama’s brain.  Full article can be found here.)

As you probably know, business success doesn’t happen by accident. It comes as a result of leveraging the right strategies, the right systems and tapping into the right support networks. That’s what this tool, The Coaches Console, is all about:

* Top strategies the most successful coaches use to explode their practice

* Access to a powerful support network of coaches that “have your back” and won’t let you fail – community of support, accountability, etc

* The most critical systems you need for your biz success.

The Coaches Console is a business success system for coaches that want to coach more clients, earn more income and make a bigger impact.

Right now they are offering a special for new members and I wanted to share this with you since it includes significant savings. If you sign up before Midnight on Friday August 27th, you will:

– Lock in the current membership rates forever! On August 28th, The Coaches Console monthly fees for new members will increase to $49/month.

– Receive a F/ree copy of the “Pyramid of Success” Collection – a collection of audio/video recordings of industry expert interviews as they share proven business success strategies for marketing, the skills of coaching and for business management.

– Receive 2 months of F/ree VIP passes to the Business Success Inner Circle Coaching Program – designed to give coaches 100% certainty they are delivering the best service to their clients possible.

To learn more and lock in your rate before they increase, CLICK THIS LINK!

Aloha! Greetings from Maui! I couldn’t resist sharing this with you, because the ladies at Coaches Console are offering a time-sensitive bonus. Sign up by 8/27 and you get locked in to current rates before the increase and get bonuses, too!

Do you want to:
Coach More Clients?
Earn More Money?
Make A Difference?

The Coaches Console is the business success system for coaches that want to grow their practice faster than they ever thought possible, coach more clients in less time and charge what you are worth.

Test drive or see for yourself how Coaches Console can help you:
Win back more hours in the week to coach more clients and earn money…instead of wasting precious time on administrative details
Have peace of mind, knowing you are delivering the BEST value to clients both in and out of the session
Save time and money by being able to manage multiple aspects of your business in one streamlined system

Click here to test drive the system today: http://www.coachesconsole.com/cmd.php?Clk=3654359

Transform your career or business growth! Enroll in Keith Ferrazzi’s Relationship Masters Academy today.

Who you know and what you do with your connections are critical to your success. As the world’s foremost expert in relationship development, Keith Ferrazzi has spent the past decade teaching Fortune 100 executives how to revolutionize their businesses and careers through professional relationships. He is the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Never Eat Alone and Who’s Got Your Back and the CEO of the consulting and training firm, Ferrazzi Greenlight. Both Forbes and Inc. have called him one of the world’s most “connected” individuals.

Now, in his new, online Relationship Masters Academy, Ferrazzi shares the exclusive relationship system once only taught to top executives with you. The next class begins on November 1^st, 2010.

About the Course

The Relationship Masters Academy is the ONLY program providing trusted expertise on how to leverage relationships for professional success from the foremost leader in business relationships, Keith Ferrazzi.

This course also applies to the real world and is built around your schedule. This flexible program offers a new type of learning – one that has all the benefits of online courses along with added support through weekly phone instruction and coaching, missions that teach “on the job,” and peer-to-peer forums.

In two to three hours a week for ten weeks, you will learn techniques that will immediately help you get the most from your relationships. Lessons and “missions” will teach you how to:

• Organize, maintain, and grow a customized network of friends, colleagues, customers and mentors that produces a never-ending stream of business opportunities
• Build emotional ties that transcend transactions with prospects and client
• Get the key influencers in your profession motivated to see you succeed
• Build networking activities into your schedule seamlessly and efficiently
• Exponentially increase your overall business/career trajectory

November 2010 Planned RMA Course Features Include:

Course Materials

-       Weekly assignments/Missions

-       Weekly training videos

-       Downloadable articles, pdfs, and quick-look guides

Diagnostic Tools

-       Pre-and-Post RQ (Relationship Management Quotient) assessment

-       Periodic diagnostics (e.g. Network mapping and audit)

Coaching Calls & Webinars

-       Live Q&A group tele-coaching sessions with Keith

-       Bi-Weekly Master Classes featuring renowned experts on presenting skills, social media, communication and interpersonal skills, leadership, and personal impact

-       Weekly live-chat virtual office hours with RMA coaches

-       Periodic group coaching calls

Community Support & Resources

-       5-7 person accountability groups with reporting and group page functionality

-       Weekly Newsletter and exclusive content via the RMA internal blog

-       Personalized profiles, forums, progress tracking functionality, and personalized email (and optional text) reminders

-       RMA Library and swipe file collection: drag and drop networking, outreach and sales materials – checklists, reference guides, phone and email scripts, invites, dinner plans, pinging templates

What People Are Saying about RMA

“I just got a new job on Friday, largely as a result of the networking I’ve done with the help of RMA. After doing research on an employer via LinkedIn and my contacts, I connected with three people at the company. All three turned out to be on the hiring panel. I had the opportunity to express my interest in the position at a professional society meeting because I found out that one of the panelists is a regular attendee. By doing a little extra research, I was able to secure the connections I needed to land the job.”

JF, July 2010, RMA Pilot II Participant

“These 3 weeks, this online course, have had a significant impact on my work, my workflow and my focus. Looking ahead, I’m seeing this project unfold in a way I had no idea could happen – in such a short period of time. I’ve created a spiral notebook that will hold my journey through RMA. I print each lesson, and paste it in to the notebook. Then, I read the documents, and write anything that comes to mind.  I’ve even started finding pictures and quotations from magazines or the web, those get pasted in as well…it’s becoming my “Passport to the future.”  I’m planning to call in for today’s conference call.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.” JW, July 2010, RMA Pilot II Participant

“When I started RMA, I loved my job but my boss just wasn’t in my corner. So for the last mission in Course 1, I invited other senior executives in my company to dinner
and introduced them to my family and community stakeholders. The dinner was spectacular, transforming my relationship with these influential execs at my job, and within
2 weeks, I was given a new boss – one that had been at my dinner and ‘has my back.’” ST, June 2010, RMA Pilot I Participant

Savings for You!

Enrollment in RMA is currently $2,000. Executives have paid as much as $10,000 for the in-person version of this course.  This is a tax-deductible expense (professional training) AND may also be reimbursed by your company.

Achieve greater success with better relationships – enroll in Keith Ferrazzi’s Relationship Masters Academy today!

I just watched the amazing TED talk by Elif Shafak, a brilliant, French-born Turkish novelist, with an incredible message of diversity, spirituality, and a vision of global leadership through stories and the literary arts.  Prepare to be amazed!

I am thrilled to share with you a recent article I wrote– “Coach As Consultant” that is published in Volume 8, Number 2, Pages 39-40 of Choice Magazine. This article distinguishes similarities and differences in the roles of Coaching and Consulting.  So, are you a coach, consultant, or both? Learn more by clicking here to read the full article.

I sent out the above notice to my mailing list a couple of hours ago and got many responses!  A few are captured here, and I’d love for you to chime into the dialogue in the comment box below!

“Excellent repurposing and marketing!”  ~GS

“Suzi, begrudgingly opened up the Choice magazine to find your article, boy was I psyched. Great job and so very helpful!” ~JR

“Congrats on this article, Suzi. It’s a good one!” ~JS

“Interesting article and right on mark for me. A major decision for me this past year was not to pursue ICF Certification because my style of coaching– that which resonates with my current and target clinets– does not comply with the ICF definintion of coaching.  I suspect there are a lot of ICF-credentialed coaches that fit this bill too.” ~DM

“congrats ! well done” ~MB

“congrats on getting published again!    beautiful article and i found the distinction between coaching and consulting intriguing to consider.   definitely important but i bet many have not considered the differences.” ~SA

“Great article, I agree with you, in fact I sometimes refer to myself as a consultant even when I am hired as a coach.  Thank you ICCO for creating those distinctions for me.” ~SI

“Thank you for the article you wrote, “Coach as Consultant”. It makes me think a little more of how to put myself out in the marketplace.” ~NB

“Interesting question, Suzi, and important to me since I’m one of those “directive coaches.” My clients hire me to be just that, so if I’m doing more than asking questions, does that constitute consulting and make me in violation of my coaching contract?” ~MW

“Great and timely article!!. I would only argue (for self-serving purposes) that some coaches by training and experience have more consulting know-how and formal knowledge about how organizations and their processes work than do those who reduce  everything to intra- and interpersonal relationships.” ~FM

“I look forward to reading your article.  I glanced at it!  I deal with the coach vs consultant every day!” ~AS

“Nice piece Suzi. Well stated and bravo for addressing the ICF ethics controversy.” ~MR

“Love this, Suzi!  I TOTALLY agree.  This view is a more customer-centered view, too.  Sometimes I think we make these finer distinctions as a way to set ourselves off as more important or to show our importance.  I don’t think this is as important to those we serve.  Bravo…and you took a risk as well v. ICF, which I admire.” ~TF

“I really love this article!  Have you read Doug Silsbee’s book, The Mindful Coach?  He lists 7 roles a coach plays.  I really like the way he describes it, because it includes more than just asking questions as a role of a coach.  I don’t believe that the “client always has the answers.”  Sometimes they don’t.  While it’s certainly not the job of the coach to pose as an “answer giver,” sometimes it is helpful to flat out make suggestions.  Well done!  The ICF ruling is a bit unsettling though.  I think that life coaching and organizational coaching are different than sometimes the ICF accounts for.  HBR had a great article on the Wild West of Coaching that talked about the confidentiality issue for example–it being a 3 way design with the hiring manager.  Anyway, as you can see you touched on a hot button!” ~CW

“Congratulations on an excellent article. Good job!” ~JL

“I think this is a great article–glad to see the topic addressed so thoughtfully.” ~KN