I have to be honest. I’ve been intentionally slow these past few weeks.

I’ve sat in long conversations listening to what it means to be human, shared the raw fears of those trying to navigate the unknown, and listened to statements of hope around what people want the future to look like when we finally return to humanly connected living.

I’ve observed and reflected on how the media has portrayed a crisis and how we in turn have reacted through our social media. In short, my observations are:

• Everyone is doing the best they can.
• For many of us just getting out of bed can feel like a big task in the current environment.
• There is a huge guilt associated with reduced productivity especially when you are one of those still in a job.
• Our brains are in survival mode and much of our behaviour is reactionary.
• Equally we are grieving the loss of the life we had and trying to navigate that process amongst everything else that’s going on.
• Focusing on the future and its uncertainty can feel overwhelming, meaning many of us just want to work out how the fuck to get through the next 24 hours.
• Many of us don’t want to buy stuff now, nor do we want to invest in significant professional development. We just don’t have the head space, nor the motivation.
• Working from home full-time with limited human connection (and 2 kids and a dog jumping over you) is not the same as having one day a week at home alone to get some high value work done.
• No one wants to be told what to do or how to feel right now, and understandably so.
• Many of us are looking for simple ways to help us just get through what feels like Groundhog Day
  

All of this has fascinated me. Not in a judgmental way, but in a way that leaves me longing, longing to support people in where they are at right now. Which is why I made a decision to offer free programs to support people in getting through the next 24 hours in a way that is constructive not destructive. I want to amplify feelings of human connection and hopefully sprinkle a little joy.

With that in mind, I thought I might share a really simple exercise to help those who want to bring a little more happiness into each day. So we here go …

What Makes You Happy
We’ve been running a little experiment called Human Hour in the past few weeks. This experiment sees random strangers from around the world connect for one hour on Zoom. It’s a lightly facilitated hour where we cultivate what we are wired for as a species – positive human connection and the sharing of what truly lights us up as human beings.

One of the exercises we undertake during Human Hour is called What Makes You Happy. We ask participants to unlock their mobile phones and scroll through to find one photograph that puts a smile on their face. It can be absolutely anything (so long as it’s clean because they have to share it with the other participants).

Why don’t you take a moment right now and do this before you read on? Trust me it’s worth it!

Now let me ask you – was your photo of your desk at work? How about your computer? Your house? Your car? In my experience, these are not the things that people share in their photos. I’ve now run this exercise with thousands around the world and discovered that happiness is often found in one (if not a combination) of the following areas:

where-is-happiness-found

What I find absolutely fascinating is that all of the buckets we find happiness in are accessible and free in some way (if we get creative and curious enough) even now in a lockdown situation. Many people have shared with me during Human Hour that they find happiness in simple things like:

Not having to travel to work each day has afforded them more quality time with their children. “I can now have breakfast with them” or “kick a ball with my kids at the end of a day”.
They are connecting more than ever with the people they love, not physically but using technology. They are truly grateful that tech like Zoom exists.
How they’re exploring new hobbies like how to bake the perfect loaf of bread or practicing hand stands for the first time or mastering that elusive peacock pose as part of their yoga practice.
For me happiness is found in nature, my son, my dog, humanly connecting, being present and in a moment fully, sharing experiences and positively impacting the lives of others.

A Happier and Healthier Reality
Until now, many of us have sidelined these happy moments at the expense of more: more productivity, more success, more material things. What would happen if as a society, we made it the norm for our happiness and wellbeing to be a priority? What if we incentivised each other to bring more of these things into the everyday?

In comparison to a pre-Covid19 world where 70% of employees were disengaged, I suspect we would find more people enjoying their work or doing work that they loved. More people would be happier and healthier. They might not be as financially wealthy, but would that matter if our basic human needs were met and we had more joy in our days? We might also find irony in that by focusing on human happiness, we would discover that the enhanced productivity we’ve been chasing would be a by-product of simply creating the space for more of what matters. What an opportunity!

Want To Know More About BKindred?
BKindred is on a mission to teach 10 million humans how to intentionally adapt, in order to future proof happiness by 2025. We put humans first in a world of technology, skilling your people and organisation to thrive in the future. Learn more about the Intentional Adaptability Quotient (IAQ®) and why it is the new competitive advantage. Are you ready for the future?

Take your free Intentional Adaptability Quotient® Self-Assessment here.

Unlock your IAQ® – The New Intelligence here.

To learn more contact Penny at BKindred

Join us in Melbourne

5, 171 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3000.
Phone: +61 466 619 631
Email: hello@digitalwomensnetwork.com
Website:https://digitalwomensnetwork.com/

The post Finding Happiness In Just The Next 24 Hours by Penny Locaso appeared first on Women's Networking Events - Melbourne.

There are 6.2 million mothers in Australia and they are responsible for spending $132 billion in this country every year. To put that into context, If mothers were an industry they would be our largest contributor to GDP.

Mothers are powerful consumers who spend for multiple generations. They are also strong influencers on other people’s spending. In fact, research shows that when a woman becomes a mother she is EIGHT times more likely to talk about businesses and brands. So even if mothers are not considered to be your ideal client, their opinions are impacting your sales.

The Marketing to Mums ‘State of Motherhood in Australia’ research report reveals a very grim portrait of being a mothers in Australia today. It is essential reading for employers as well as businesses wishing to attract more mothers (and their families). It demonstrates why Australian mothers feel unsupported, undervalued and misrepresented

There are enormous opportunities to better engage mothers, build stronger relationships and support these women which will grow . Now, more than ever, we need to reflect, review and reinvent the way we communicate and support these women. It’s time for change.

——————————————————–

This free report will be very useful for anyone in our community who employ mothers or wish to attract more mothers to their business as customers/clients.

You are welcome to access it here: https://marketingtomums.com.au/motherhood-report

Join us in Melbourne

5, 171 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3000.
Phone: +61 466 619 631
Email: hello@digitalwomensnetwork.com
Website:https://digitalwomensnetwork.com/

The post The state of motherhood in Australia by Katrina McCarter appeared first on Women's Networking Events - Melbourne.

International Womens Day 2020 (IWD 2020 )was a huge success, our annual sell out event saw us raise funds to support the devastated communities and learn from our game changing female leaders doing impactful things for climate change.

We all know the impact the bushfires and droughts have had across Australia. International Women’s Day 2020 we adapted the theme “Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change”#EachforEqual.

With the amazing support from Guy Grossi, we at Digital Women’s Network shared our game changing female leaders who opened up about how they are doing impactful things for the devastated communities.

We all walked away with key tips and how we can all make a little difference and small changes we can make to help the environment now and for future generations.

Whilst enjoying a long lunch at the hands of the wonderful chef Guy Grossi, upstairs at Grossi Florentino’s we were spoilt with a range of innovative, sustainable and re-usable Australian and New Zealand consumer and beauty brands – Rustic Hyde, Frank green, Peggy Sue and Karen Murrell providing us with gorgeous gifts, raffle prizes and door prizes.

The team at Performance Medicine provided over $750 of raffle prizes from massages, pilates classes, neck pillows, fitness balls and we had many grateful and happy prize winners.

Annie from Performance Medicine shared her heart warming story on the impact the bushfires have had on us all.

International Women’s Day;

Designing for hope – Dr Dominique Hes

Changes isn’t scary, change so easy we’ve changed a lot and we keep changing. Sustainability is supposed to be easy, not hard. We should all look at the opportunities being created speak form a place of abundance not restriction.

Living our life, we will create a climate impact it’s inevitable the most important part is to enjoy eating drinking and try to make the best decisions we can. Dispose of food, drink from local producers eat as much as we can locally. We shouldn’t feel ashamed and contribute and create more benefit. Each tree has an impact. And that’s ok and it provides habitat and shade and life.

Find that place (happy place) and invest your impact, find systems that have a positive impact like Greenfleet – Think about the Carbon offseting.

Stop Waiting for a Hero you are the hero! be the change you want to see!

Lucinda Hartley

Urban designer, multicultural person.

The Neighbourhood you live in defines you and has an impact. Beach cafe our neighbourhood they are human and emotional spaces and define what makes cities great. Stories of emotions are attached to this neighbourhood.

This year we had No Christmas had to cancel thick smoke in alpine park hosting refugees. We’ve had grief and loss of landscape, understanding behaviour and lifestyle they don’t serve the entire purpose. Neighbourlytics digs deeper into how it impacts your business and lifestyle. Bushfires are a massive shock to people, animals, plants and our environment. Creating their own weather. Cities are in crisis feeling helpless, neighbourhood are in isolation and we are all having loss of identity and character as everything looks burnt and we see and hear nothing but devastation.

Measuring the impact can have a major effect, it enables us to understand how we can move forward, we can use the insights and data to make the change – NOW is the time to think about this. We will be sharing our findings of the work we are doing in these devastated areas across Australia, working with governments, hopefully charities and private companies to help them make informed decisions about town planning and the important parts of a community.

Download the fact sheets here

The co-founder of Rustic Hyde Michelle Kelso provided not only lucky door prizes and amazing gift packs worth over $200, she shared her story about the impact of the fires. Given that Rustic Hyde is located in the Victorian Alpine region they were so closely effected by the bushfires.

Rustic Hyde post IWD 2020 also continued to raise funds for our charites GreenFleet and Wildlife Victoria.

The beautiful Liz Grossi-Rodriguez co- owner of the Grossi Group, Guy’s sister shared her story about the impact the bushfires and droughts have had and how important our role is in supporting the farmers and communities.

Liz shared her views on how very important it is for us to work together, understand and appreciate the food we eat, the impact we have on the planet and how we can all do our bit to drive change, as we know an equal world is an enabled world!

The Grossi group have been doing many things for the communities raising thousands of dollars and shining a light on the importance of buying local through to celebrity charity dinners events and of course supporting the Digital Women’s Network IWD 2020 event. They continue to be a huge part of the Digital Women’s Network efforts, without their support we simply wouldn’t be able to pull together such amazing events.

The successful event saw us donate $1850 to Greenfleet to plant trees and offset carbon.

Plus $1650 for Wildlife Victoria

Once again a huge thank you goes out to all the businesses, people and brands behind our annual International Women’s Day 2020. We are humbled and forever grateful to be able to raise funds for such deserving charities and come together as a community.

Please see the full gallery of images from the day!

Take care, stay safe love Angela (the very pregnant) and the Whole Digital Women’s Network team xxx

Level 5, 171 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000
Phone 0466619631
Email hello@digitalwomensnetwork.com
https://digitalwomensnetwork.com/

The post IWD 2020 Wrap up & Gallery appeared first on Women's Networking Events - Melbourne.

Hello Angela, I’d love to help, I hope you and the Digital Women’s Network members are going well!

This email may help someone in the Digital Women’s Network for their sales team. The content is resonating and practical for the girls and guys who have to sell and don’t want to appear like ambulance chasers considering the environment.

During this time I’ve been running a 45 -60 minute group coaching on  ‘How To Sell Remotely When Nobody Wants To See You’

– No PPTs, No Breakout Rooms, No Big Sales Pitches – just me and whoever is on the call and the feedback has been great.  It was picked up by The CEO Institute and now being shared only with my clients, prospects, database and people I know – you are one of them 

The request for me to run a couple more means I will be repeating it next week on Wednesday May 6^th at 10am…and I have included the Zoom Link below to click on and register if it was something that resonated.

If you have sales team members or colleagues you would like to be on the call, please forward them this email.

The 3 main distinctions people received were around:

• The ‘framing’ of the call to remove the awkwardness
• The necessity and how to transition your new positioning statements and
• The need to language your value to set yourself up for Q3/4
• And more…

Because of security issues, I’m asking everyone to register in advance for the session and here’s the link  –https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwrdeusrz4iHt3O7iCBvPfckqer1fpWXugI

Hope you/they can make it. In the meantime, take care and speak soon.

Btw – this one is complementary 

Cheers

Bernadette McClelland

us@bernadettemcclelland.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernadettemcclelland/
+61 457 334 496
16 Angela’s Way, Sunbury, VIC 3429, Australia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1fFuEb2QYI

Join us in Melbourne

5, 171 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3000.
Phone: +61 466 619 631
Email: hello@digitalwomensnetwork.com
Website:https://digitalwomensnetwork.com/

The post ‘How To Sell Remotely When Nobody Wants To See You’ appeared first on Women's Networking Events - Melbourne.

You may all remember Rachel from International Women’s Day 2019 and the event we held on Confidence and Happiness in the Digital Age see these great event wrap ups and my sit down with Rachel!

Rachel and team over the lock down period have been helping many people and sent me a note to share with us at Digital Women’s Network,

Hey Ange this post has been very popular we would love you to share with anyone you feel might value. x Sending you LOADS of love!

Locus of Control- How can we manage uncertainty in our work and lives?

The term Locus of Control, coined in 1954, fulfils a psychological need to feel in control. During times of uncertainty, we naturally look for ways to feel more in control (toilet paper anyone?)

While it’s tempting to throw our hands up in the air and say ‘there is nothing I can do!’, the fact of the matter is those are thoughts and NOT facts. The honest facts are we do have control over this: what we choose to do next.

During times of uncertainty, and our Work Life Brilliance clients will know this, it can be a helpful tool to remember that actively working on our Internal Locus of Control, the belief we can choose how we respond not only helps us feel more sane (love that) but also enables us to think more positively during times of change such as a shift in our typical routine, or working from home for a few weeks.

This sets us up for success, as well as slowly reminds us: we’ve got this. And know that we’ve got YOU.

Download our Locus of Control Pack including a  worksheet to help you create your own list of things you can control.

Looking for our workplace Managing Uncertainty pack? Click here. 

How can we manage uncertainty in our work and lives?

The term Locus of Control, coined in 1954, fulfils a psychological need to feel in control. During times of uncertainty, we naturally look for ways to feel more in control (toilet paper anyone?)

While it’s tempting to throw our hands up in the air and say ‘there is nothing I can do!’, the fact of the matter is those are thoughts and NOT facts. The honest facts are we do have control over this: what we choose to do next.

During times of uncertainty, and our Work Life Brilliance clients will know this, it can be a helpful tool to remember that actively working on our Internal Locus of Control, the belief we can choose how we respond not only helps us feel more sane (love that) but also enables us to think more positively during times of change such as a shift in our typical routine, or working from home for a few weeks.

This sets us up for success, as well as slowly reminds us: we’ve got this. And know that we’ve got YOU.

Download our Locus of Control Pack including a  worksheet to help you create your own list of things you can control.

Looking for our workplace Managing Uncertainty pack? Click here. 

Get in contact with the team at the Happiness Concierge and see what they can do for you; (+61) 0431 339 497 | mojo@happinessconcierge.com
https://happinessconcierge.com/contact-1

Join us in Melbourne

Level 5, 171 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000
Phone 0466619631
Email hello@digitalwomensnetwork.com
https://digitalwomensnetwork.com/

The post MANAGING UNCERTAINTY appeared first on Women's Networking Events - Melbourne.

Please meet Dr Dominique Hes- Board Director Greenfleet, Co-Founder Place Agency, Researcher Beyond Zero Emissions

Dr Dominique Hes is the award winning Author of the book “Designing for Hope: Pathways to regenerative sustainability.” Author and editor of 6 books and over 100 papers and reports. Non-executive board member at Greenfleet (planting ecosystems to offset carbon). The co-Founder of internationally award winning Place Agency, and ex director of Thrive Research Hub from Melbourne University. Previously founding board member of the Living Futures Institute of Australia and Trustee (board member) of Trust for Nature (conserving remnant ecosystems),

Dominique has a PHD in Architecture, multiple degrees in Science, Engineering and Sustainable Design. She has a demonstrated history of working in the higher education and building industries in the fields of sustainability, regenerative development, systems thinking, environmental issues, placemaking and project management. These support her in her current role as Principal Researcher at Beyond Zero Emissions (helping communities and industries transition to zero emissions).

Dr Hes passion is to uncover ways to address the issues we are seeing all around us; loss of biodiversity, loss of habitat and changing climate. Dominique works on the premise of hope, but not air fairy ‘wish the grass was greener’ hope, but grounded hope – an irresistible vision of a thriving future and ways to move towards it. She works to establish a powerful network of informed, influential, and active global citizens who are committed to redefining humanity’s relationships with the ecosystems we inhabit.

Dominique your work places large emphasis the importance and influence of people’s relationship to place and the ecosystems they inhabit, to drive sustainable change and for communities to thrive. Can you please explain this further? 

There is a difference in how you feel about you home and just a normal house or building. This is sense of connection, belonging and safety which we only create through having a relationship with it, makes it a home. Because of this we care for our home, we build relationships with our neighbours, with the shops, parks and organisations near us. We value our home. If we can create this ‘care’ for our neighbourhood, our parks, nature, the environment we set up the conditions to create a relationship with them and look after them. That Indigenous idea of caring for country. While we remove nature from people’s experience, we reduce the potential for care. 

What does a community thriving look like? Community thriving is not Utopia, it’s not where you get everything you want or even where we are happy. It is where there is the potential to thrive, where all the conditions are present for everyone to be a part of the place. A place to grow, learn, feel belonging and have purpose. 

 Dominique, in the face of the very “real” challenges climate change is currently posing, can you please explain how regenerative development processes can;

Positively impact the planet now?

Regenerative development asks the question how can this project, this initiative, this building, this program be of service to this place or scenario. How can I be of service? That is not what can I get but what can I contribute. So it means for everything you do you ask how can this create benefit? Secondly and linked, regenerative development asks how do you create capacity with whatever you are doing to increase vitality, viability and ability to adapt. For climate change it’s of in going to remove my investments from companies that work on fossil fuels, what can I invest in that creates benefit beyond my bottom line?

So how does that help us with climate change?

There is what you do at home, with your family, offsetting your emissions and using solar at home, electric or hybrid cars and green power. There is drawing down carbon, there is a great book which shows how we can draw down much of the CO2 in the atmosphere – Drawdown by Paul Hawken. We can do this through regenerative farming, investing in our soils, through planting forests, through investing in our water ways, through looking after our oceans and especially looking after kelp and sea grass. But mostly it is about putting out big girl pants on and stepping up to the role we can have in solving the problems we have created. Doing what we can within the sphere of our influence, whether you are into comms and marketing, a programmer, a manager, an academic, a board member, a stay home parent (hardest job) or barista! Figure our what you can impact and do it!

And in the future? We can have a future where everyone is able to thrive together. We have the brains to do it, especially now that we are connected around the globe we can understand the scale of the opportunity that is our planet. This is a unique time in human history. If we just shift our thinking from consuming to contributing we can design this world. 

I’m only one person said one billion people….For those who are not across politics or aware of other organisations that are actively pushing for advanced solutions to climate change where do they start? 

In the home and with spending habits, how can we make an impact in our everyday lives and then looking outward to our politics and our banking habits etc.

This year I looked for alternatives for gas and banking I wrote to the old companies to tell them why: I looked at my gas and switched to 100% green (offset – www.powershop.com.au/why-powershop/renewable-energy/greenpower/) and away from Origin who support fracking; switched to Bank Australia who are a clean bank “We also use money to help create positive impact for people, their communities and the planet.” [https://www.bankaust.com.au/]; committed to be a better recycler.  

Do what you can, be sceptical of what you read in the press esp. Murdoch media, esp. anyone who is basing arguments on opinion not science. There’s a great website by ABC and RMIT to check facts. (https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/factcheck/) advocate within your own organisation for transparency and commitment.

Who is making a difference?

BCorp, RE100 – companies committing to going 100% renewable (http://there100.org/companies), Greenfleet – planting ecosystems to offset peoples carbon; Trust for Nature – buying and selling properties and putting covenants on to protect critical ecosystems.

 What are they doing?

BCorps (https://www.bcorporation.com.au/) B Corporations, or B Corps, make decisions that make a positive impact across their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment.

How do we become more educated and accountable to individually impact as a whole?

–        Enjoy life, have fun and be fulfilled… just do it with passion and presence

–        Eat less meat

–        Travel consciously and offset your impact

–        Use green power or have your own solar systems

–        Plant trees

–        Support local action

Meet Dominique this International Women’s Day and join us to support the devastated communities and meet our game changing female leaders doing impactful things for climate change.

About this Event

The bushfires and droughts that have been ravishing Australia have brought communities together as a positive. This International Women’s Day we have adapted the theme “Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change”#EachforEqual. We at the Digital Women’s Network are thrilled to share with you our game changing female leaders who are doing impactful things for our devastated communities.

Our speakers will also provide us all with take away key tips for changes we can bring to our lives to help the environment now and for future generations.

Whilst enjoying a long lunch at the hands of the wonderful chef Guy Grossi, upstairs at Grossi Florentino’s you will have the opportunity to learn from our speakers how an innovative digital approach is supporting the bushfire recovery across Australia. The afternoon will end with a healthy discussion on how we can individually create a collective impact to help ourselves and the environment. How we can make changes to ensure that we build smart systems for the future.

We will be raising funds from the day to support the communities and in the regeneration of forests throughout Australia with the help of Greenfleet.

Now more than ever it is time to work together on an equal footing to drive change, as we know an equal world is an enabled world!

International Women’s Day;

Venue: Grossi Florentino, 80 Bourke Street, Melbourne 3000

Lunch; Bubbles on arrival with three courses and glass of wine

Cost: $110 pp

Charity: Bushfire relief & Green-fleet

dietary requirements can be catered for – please contact us to advise.

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/celebrate-iwd-2020-grossi-florentino-for-climate-change-tickets-92598995087

Published by

LinkedIn Influencer, Board Advisor, Marketing Strategist, Director Digital White Space & Digital Women’s Network, Judge

The post Interview with Dr Dominique Hes our International Womens Day Speaker for 2020! appeared first on Women's Networking Events - Melbourne.

At this year’s upcoming WOBI World Business Forum in New York join us to hear from Zoë Chance. The two-day November event, brings together thousands of business leaders to be inspired by some of the world’s most renowned speakers from business and beyond. Immerse yourself in new ways of thinking that challenge your current mindset Only a few spaces remain for our 2 day tour! https://newyorkstudytour.com/

Zoë advocates for “Timing”  how the timing on when to influence is just as important as how. “Observation” You need to observe the individual, but also the environment around the individual, in order to successfully exert influence. “Understanding” You need to first understand what influences you in order to influence others and most importantly “Ease” Ease is probably the biggest influence of all.

Here is Zoë’s TEDx talk How to Make a Behaviour Addictive at TEDxMillRiver

Zoë Chance examines persuasion and decision-making through the lens of behavioural economics. Her work is focused on helping good people and businesses do good in the world. A professor at the Yale School of Management, her MBA elective, How to Make Behaviour Addictive, is one of the most in demand courses at the school. Chance is currently writing a book on influence and persuasion, scheduled for release in 2020.

Passionate about turning knowledge into practice, Chance’s research has been published in top academic journals and influential business media such as the Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and the BBC. Her 4Ps Framework for Behaviour Change is the foundation for Google’s global food guidelines, helping 60,000 people make healthier choices every day. She also collaborates with various industry partners through her work at Yale’s Center for Customer Insights.

How do we influence?

Zoë will share her insights on how to Mastering Influence and Persuasion

• Crash course on behavioural economics: the real drivers of people’s decisions and behaviour are not what you would expect
• How to connect more authentically, communicate persuasively, employ principles of motivation, and better understand how people make decisions
• Expand from the interpersonal to the interpersonal – from influencing the self to influencing consumers and society
• Discover and develop your own style of influence, and use this to influence behaviour by shaping the contexts and environments in which decisions are made

Zoë was a Brand Marketing Manager working for Matelle for Barbie, enjoyed hearing all about the research and insights presented she wanted to learn to help people make better decisions. After studying at Harvard in marketing and behavioural economics she completed her PhD research and realised I “it was naïve to imagine anyone can change how people make decisions—but that if we can understand how they make decisions then we can have a better hope of influencing them”.

At Yale School of Management, Zoë created a course that brought together her research on behavioural economics, and experience in marketing, sales, and negotiations, and public speaking. 

If you look at almost any firm that has disrupted not just its competitors but its entire industry, it’s likely they were innovating on the dimension of ease. 
Here is a Q&A with Zoë on advice for marketers to help us better identify those moments and influence those moments?

Zoë: People are busy, and their attention is so scattered. So how can you stop wasting marketing dollars on messages that never even get seen or read or opened? Behavioural economists ask, what are people already paying attention to?

The Yale Center for Customer Insights did some work with a large media company. They have a paywall subscription service where you can read a certain number of articles free every month, and then when you try to read another one, you get blocked. They told us a huge number of people were hitting the paywall in the morning, but then weren’t buying the subscription.

The problem was that in the morning, people are in a rush to head off to work or get kids ready for school. Their attention is elsewhere, and they won’t spend time entering credit card information and all that.

When this company paused the paywall in the morning and kept it for the afternoon, subscriptions increased a tremendous amount because people who were checking the news in the afternoon were looking for a break from work. When you hit the paywall, you see the subscription process as a productive distraction, “Oh, well, now I have to enter my credit card information so I can download this really important article.”

In a way, although you can’t control that person’s perception, you’re actually manipulating the environment around them in order to set them up or match what you’re trying to achieve with what they’re trying to achieve. Can that ever go too far?

Zoë: Much of the time I’m on a soapbox trying to persuade brands to make it as easy as possible to do business with people. Make it as easy as possible to take the next step, wherever you are on the customer journey. Amazon has done phenomenally well with this, but in one situation, they made it too easy.

Do you remember the Dash button? A physical button programmed to order one specific product, and you put it somewhere in your house? It seemed like a good idea, but it hasn’t panned out that well. And one problem was the buttons made it too easy to order products. Even small children could do it—and they did.

If you were able to give someone a challenge or an assignment that would get them to really start to appreciate some of your teachings and learnings, what might that ask be?

Zoë: It would be the challenge I start my MBA class with. It’s a 48-hour challenge. In the first 24 hours you say “no” to every request. In the second 24 hours, you say “yes, and—” agreeing to others’ requests and adding your own request of something that would make you happy.

This challenge reveals a lot about your own habits that’s gone under the radar. For many, many, many of us it’s much harder to say no than we realize. We have beliefs that other people won’t like us if we say no, or we’ll ruin the relationship or something. As a result, we end up getting so much of our time and attention sucked away by being unwilling to say no. But practice shows you that other people are okay with you declining respectfully. Learning to say no can be transformative.

The “yes, and” piece helps us practice imagining how could the world be even better. What does that look like? And people are surprised to discover we can actually improve our relationships and deepen our relationships by asking people for other things. If we tell ourselves asking is always selfish, then we’re shutting down a lot of possibilities. That’s the 48-hour challenge.

Aptly named Mastering Influence and Persuasion, for MBA students and also for executives from all over the world. It went really well except for one thing: the standard influence techniques I was teaching. Like scarcity, social proof, and commitment and consistency.

Students and executives would tell me, “We can’t use those influence techniques on the people that we most need to influence.” Arm’s-length transactional tactics may work sometimes with customers, but not with our colleagues, and not with our kin.

That’s what set me off on this journey of trying to figure out how we can influence those we respect and care about—which means influencing in ways we’d want to be influenced ourselves. And of course, customers prefer more respectful influence strategies too.

This is a fully immersive experience in this dynamic city which will help you take your Business and personal development to the next level! Join us for 2 days.

Get your tickets-  2 day Study Tour

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/new-york-study-tour-express-2-days-tickets-75547296999?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=escb&utm-source=cp&utm-term=eventcard

To learn more about the Business Innovation and Leadership New York Study Tour head to https://newyorkstudytour.com

Look forward to seeing you there!

Cheers,

Angela Mellak

Founder Digital Women’s Network

Founder- Digital White Space

M:0466619631

E. hello@digitalwomensnetwork.com

Level 3, 162-168 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 

Do or Do not, there is no try!

Zoe Chance | Author, Assistant Professor of Marketing | Better Influence, Yale School of Management

The post How to master influence and persuasion- with Zoe Chance appeared first on Women's Networking Events - Melbourne.

Here is a bit more on Kory. As the Global Practice Leader for Organisational Development at Franklin Covey, Kory focuses on creating cultures of great confidence, developing great leaders and extraordinary productivity in people, teams and organisations. Kory has more than 25 years of experience in business, during which she has incorporated a unique perspective with a holistic view of organisational development.

Combining her experience as an executive with her roles as a senior consultant in Leadership and the Global Practice Leader for Organisational Development at FranklinCovey, Kory doesn’t only understand strategy and the key principles to building great systems, leaders, and cultures of success, but can also offer practical solutions that facilitate the behavioural changes necessary for the desired results.

Here Scott Miller sits down with bestselling author and productivity expert Kory Kogon to talk the future of productivity and practical advice for getting things done.

Kory is the coauthor of the Wall Street Journal bestseller The 5 Choices: The Path to Extraordinary Productivity, and before taking on her role at FranklinCovey, Kory was the executive vice president for global operations at AlphaGraphics, Inc. for six years.

Building a Culture of Extraordinary Productivity

• Buried Alive: The State of 21st Century Productivity
• Learning the organisational processes that provide consistency in filtering the important from the less or not important and create a culture of productivity
• Turning planning and technology into a productivity engine
• The “brains” and “body” to get the right things done: The “5 energy drivers” that ensure sustainable mental and physical energy

Learn cutting edge and innovative ways to build Business success by getting clear on your own ambitions and business alignment and gain a greater understanding of what is the most important aspects in business right now! 

This is a fully immersive experience in this dynamic city which will help you take your Business and personal development to the next level! Join us for 5 days or just 2 days.

Get your tickets- 

2 day Study Tour

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/new-york-study-tour-express-2-days-tickets-75547296999?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=escb&utm-source=cp&utm-term=eventcard

5 Day Study Tour

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/5-day-new-york-study-tour-for-business-innovation-leadership-tickets-64647676942

To learn more about the Business Innovation and Leadership New York Study Tour head to https://newyorkstudytour.com

Look forward to seeing you there!

Cheers,

Angela Mellak

Founder Digital Women’s Network

Founder- Digital White Space

M:0466619631

E. hello@digitalwomensnetwork.com

Level 3, 162-168 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 

Gain practical skills and global insights to improve your business or career, there is ONLY HAVE 30 SPACES AVAILABLE – TICKETS SELLING FAST! Invest in your development and join us to Network with a select group of business influencers, c-suite peers lead by Australia’s Global Business Innovator – Tony McGinn OAM.

The post Building a Culture of Extraordinary Productivity with KORY KOGON appeared first on Women's Networking Events - Melbourne.

LEADERSHIP SPEAKING WITH ILLUMINATED STORY & DIGITAL WOMEN’S NETWORK

Wednesday 21st August 2019 we held Part one of our three part public speaking breakfast series, which was a great success.  Our guests were spoilt with a delicious breakfast provided by Guy Grossi’s Merchant team while listening to Carmen Sederino from Illuminated Story impart many great tips and techniques that will enhance our guests speaking ability as leaders in business.

Carmen shared that a recent study found that 79% of people surveyed find presentations to be boring. And it’s true. How many of us haven’t struggled to sit through dreary and passionless presentations? It happens all too often.   

If you’re the leader of an organisation or team and you don’t come across as a confident and articulate speaker, it will be difficult for you to attract people to be a part of your team or have customers do business with you.  She also discussed the fact that public speaking is a skill you can learn, not just something you are born being great at.  If you’re challenged by public speaking, there are several techniques that can help you overcome your fears.

The presentation concluded with Carmen sharing many great practical tips and exercises that emphasised the importance of tone, pace and body language, to help the group hone and polish their hidden skills and Illuminate the presenter inside them.

If it is fear that is holding you back, it may offer some comfort to know that Carmen mentioned even business magnate and billionaire Warren Buffett admitted to being “terrified” of public speaking early in his career. But he knew that “If you can’t communicate and talk to other people and get across your ideas, you’re giving up your potential”. And, so he chose to conquer his fear. You can, too! 

Join us at one of our two remaining Breakfast Series on public speaking.  If you lead a B2B sales team or are the owner of an organisation the next ‘Improve Your Sales Presenting’ breakfast on the 11^th of September is perfect for you.  Hosted by the wonderful team at Guy Grossi’s Merchant in the Rialto tower, Carmen will not only share techniques to enhance your presentation delivery but take you through a ‘standard’ sales presentation versus a highly effective ‘stand out’ sales presentation.

If you are a female leader or a female wanting to head into leadership then don’t miss our ‘Leading Women and Speaking’ breakfast on the 25^th of September at Guy Grossi’s Merchant.  Carmen will challenge you to stand up and be seen and heard, and to move forward confidently so that you allow others to follow you, or for Senior Management to see the potential lying within.

We looking forward to seeing you soon at our next event or tour,
Cheers Digital Women’s Network Team; Carmen, Angela, Nicola, Amanda, Jesse, Bek, Kelly, Carmel, Hina, Jade, Ruby, Justin & Adrian. xx
hello@digitalwomensnetwork.com 

The post FIRST IN OUR BREAKFAST SERIES FOR 2019 appeared first on Women's Networking Events - Melbourne.

Elizabeth (Liz) Grossi-Rodriguez;

Liz supports diversity across the hospitality landscape, however fell into supporting diversity without actively recognising that was what she was doing.

In 1999 the first female waitress served at her family restaurant, Grossi Florentino. This was controversial at the time and some long-term customers felt that having a female perform this role somehow lowered the venue. Liz stood by this decision because she simply placed people in the role in which they belonged based on merit, and gender was not a factor to her.

Whilst Liz acknowledges that her early actions in placing female staff were not deliberate acts of diversity, she now believes that change comes about as the result of considering the long-term impacts, the potential benefits, and persevering to reach these goals. These changes take time to achieve and change can be difficult, so the smallest steps forward are an achievement in themselves.

In supporting diversity and inclusion, Liz challenges us to ask ourselves these questions;

• What example am I displaying?
• How will I deal with adversity?

Liz believes that through creating a new sense of the way we do things we will create our new normal. She has learned not to be paralysed by failure, instead to learn and move on.

Liz’s final piece of advice to us was powerful;

Look for champions who want to see you succeed and who will support you, and be that person for others.

Samantha is a highly skilled and driven women, a Wing Commander, Pilot for Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), World Economic Forum Global Leader, Telstra Business Woman, Gender Diversity and Inclusion Advocate, Mentor and Women’s Leadership Specialist and a busy Wife and Mother of two.

Our Daring to Lead Cultural Change event is born from Samantha’s first-hand experience in creating systemic change in the Royal Australian Air Force.

Samantha’s work has been globally recognised in 2016 by the prestigious World Economic Forum, where she was identified as a Young Global Leader, “Most influential global leaders under 40 years” for her outstanding leadership drive and qualities.

Furthermore, her entrepreneurial flair has also been recognised Across Australia by Telstra in 2014 by taking out the QLD Telstra Business Women’s Award for Business Innovation of the Air Force’s Graduate Pilot Scheme. 

Samantha Freebairn:

Samantha grew up in Drysdale, Victoria. Her first active realisation that she wanted to become a pilot was as a seven-year-old on a holiday “overseas” to Hamilton Island. She was allowed with some other children to go into the flight deck (she refuses to call it a cock pit) and see what the pilots do, which ignited her passion to become a pilot.

Samantha knew that to become a pilot she would have to perform well at school and study hard. She went to an all girl’s school and saw this as an advantage because if a girl was strong in a certain area, she became a leader in that field within the school. This meant there was no point during school where Samantha ruled herself out of anything. Her dad was also a strong factor in this thinking, and made sure that Samantha and her sister were able to change a car tyre, timing them with a stopwatch. No daughter of his was going to not be self-sufficient.

Samantha joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as an eighteen-year-old, studying at the RAAF Academy in Canberra. She was one of only two women to graduate at that time, and naturally she stood out, so spent the first ten years of her career just trying to fit in. She acknowledges that through trying to fit in and be “one of the boys” she really wasn’t able to perform at her best.

Samantha recalled a mission where she was flying a C-130H Hercules, a cargo transport aircraft. She was required to deliver the crew briefing via her radio headset. Afterwards, the Loadmaster pulled her aside and said “Ma’am, you can fly the hell out of this aircraft, it just doesn’t sound like you can.”

When Samantha queried what the Loadmaster meant by this, he explained that he could only hear her briefing via the headset, and her voice, pitch and tone did not carry authority or instil confidence in her leadership. Through this experience she learned to use her “Captain’s Voice”; lower, slower and louder. This big lesson in leadership highlighted to Sam that it wasn’t about changing who she was, but rather adapting to her environment.

Samantha spoke about a humanitarian mission she was involved in to retrieve victims of the Bali bombings. She described the experience of landing in Bali and seeing the many dazed people wandering about, many with singed clothes, injuries and burns. During this mission she and her crew did not know if they themselves could be victims of further attacks, which was when she realised the true significance of “signing on the dotted line” that she would serve her country and potentially make the ultimate sacrifice for others. 

Samantha and her crew transported fourteen of the bombing victims back to Darwin, and during take-off, Samantha recalls the navigator holding her hand. The sights, sounds and smells of what they had witnesses in Bali had clearly had an impact on the crew, including the navigator. During the mission debrief on their return to Darwin, the crew were asked if they would like to see a psychologist to unpack what they’d seen in Bali. Everyone looked away and no one wanted to admit that the events they’d seen had impacted them. Samantha as the youngest and least experienced member of the crew, spoke up for everyone and said that yes, she would need a whole lot of therapy to unpack what she’d just seen. As a result, everyone received the counselling which was very much needed.

From this, Samantha learned that leadership is sometimes about speaking up for those who can’t or won’t speak up for themselves. After this experience, she stopped being something other than herself, started to back herself, and that was when she really started to thrive as a leader.

Samantha had a new mission- to increase recruitment of female pilots. The RAAF had not met its female recruitment targets for eight years. The quality of applicants were failing to meet the required standard, with women amongst the highest failure rates.

To address the shortage of female pilots, Samantha established Project WINTER (Women in Non-Traditional Employment Roles.) It was noted that at Griffith University, 30% of those studying aviation were female. However, of those 30%, only one woman had considered becoming a military pilot, compared with 94% of men studying the same qualification. Social hurdles identified for women were twofold; military careers and aviation careers were both not traditionally feminine roles.

As a result, Samantha decided to target her approach, towards both women in aviation and women already in the military. This approach centred around changing policies, including increased focus on retention of women returning from maternity leave. To achieve success, it was vital to understand the barriers in order to remove them. Also vital to this process was women supporting women, through development of women’s networks and women’s mentoring programs. Another barrier to women’s career progression was that men were quick to speak up when they wanted career opportunities, hence women were overlooked. To address this, an Expression of Interest process was introduced so that anyone could apply for opportunities rather than on a first in basis.

Samantha reinforced that when considering workplace diversity and inclusion, it is not just about recruitment, but also how workplaces retain, support and progress their people. 

For women in non-traditional roles such as Samantha’s, the feeling can be of having to work twice as hard to be considered half as good. She realised this was the case when in the USA for pilot training, where 40 other women were also undertaking training. It was a nice feeling not to “stick out” for a change.

SEE THE GALLERY OF PHOTOS FROM THE NIGHT

Samantha discussed five elements for leadership success:

1. Confidence- which Samantha describes as more “grrrrr” or more “tiger”, having some bravado. A TED talk delivered by Amy Cuddy on the importance of body language and “power posing” is something that has resonated with Samantha, and that she uses herself to increase her feelings of confidence. She also added that this will not compensate for not knowing your stuff. For leaders it is important to recognise when people are under pressure and at risk of not performing at their best, and where possible give them some time and space to mentally prepare. An example of this is in undertaking exams, where it has been shown that power posing for 2 minutes prior to the exam can positively impact results.

1. Communication- spoken about in more detail in the uncomfortable conversations and GROW model frameworks

1. Culture- There are “morale vampires” who will suck the lift out of you if you let them. Samantha talks about “below the line” comments as negative comments, which can be reframed into positive ones. Reframing these comments can have a positive impact on workplace culture. For example- “We can’t achieve this” (negative), would be reframed as “What can we achieve?” (positive). Take the negative portion of the comments made by your “morale vampires” and throw it back at them.

1. Connections- Connect with positive people who will build you up and recharge your batteries.

1. Courage- Be brave, call out bad behaviour. Make it better for the person following you- just because you can tolerate it doesn’t mean the next person can or should.

Samantha offered a framework for having uncomfortable conversations or calling out bad behaviour:

• Situation: Provide the time, date, occasion
• Behaviour: What the person did or said
• Impact: How you felt when they did or said it

Example: “On (date/time) you said (****) which made me feel really uncomfortable, as though you don’t value my contribution.” 

These conversations should be conducted in private. If you feel the need to practice, “workshop” what you’re planning to say with someone first to get their feedback on how you come across.

Samantha also discussed how to have coaching conversations using the GROW model:

Goal- “What is your goal?”

Reality- “What is happening now?”

Options- “What options do you have?”

Way Forward- “What is the next step?”

The GROW model prevents the issue of having people coming with problems, and having to take on everyone else’s problems. Instead the person is empowered to solve their own problem. 

Samantha concluded her wonderful presentation by giving us an opportunity to practice a coaching conversation using the GROW model, with feedback from the group that it was a powerful tool to use in coaching conversations.

Q & A with Angela and Samantha:

How did you change the culture of the RAAF?

Samantha wrote it down in policy, which made it repeatable, no matter who was in management. She became a manager herself, and not only supported women but also supported men in parental roles to progress at the rate of their peers. Changing the culture is about both showing and doing the things that can be done.

Digital Women’s Network began to support other women and rise together. Do you think that there is still a problem, and how can women do this better?

Samantha once gave a talk at a primary school, in her RAAF uniform, and told the children that if they could pat their head and rub their tummy at the same time, they had the potential to be a pilot. She asked who wanted to be pilots, and all the boys raised their hands. Samantha asked why none of the girls raised their hands, and one girl responded that it was too dangerous, girls can’t do it, and that she wanted to be a flight attendant. It was at that stage that Samantha realised that female pilots were invisible to young girls, and she went back to the RAAF and built the women’s network. As a result of this work female pilot numbers doubled when they had previously been stagnant for thirty years. 

How did you change the conditions for parents in the RAAF?

Women had managed to negotiate working conditions for themselves prior to Samantha, however their supportive bosses left. There was need for formal documentation, so Samantha wrote the policy. It had to be documented, regularly reviewed, and enduring so that no change of management could impact working conditions. Additional to this, Samantha worked to increase parental leave for men, and increase carer’s leave entitlements. Her takeaway from this experience- “Fix what pisses you off.”

How do you remain feminine in a masculine environment and still be respected?

Samantha talked about the changes she went through in having two children, in terms of tolerating the pain of childbirth as well as what the female body can do. “The amount of pain I can tolerate is immeasurable.” This stopped her from trying to fit in, as there is no need to fit the stereotype or the mould. Samantha’s advice is to set up environments where people do the best they possibly can without deferring to cultural norms.

Q & A From the Audience:

Females can be seen as emotional or having a tendency to make irrational decisions. What are your thoughts on this?

Samantha spoke about a time that she failed a flight test. The instructor told her that he couldn’t pass her, and even though she knew that she was going to fail, she still cried. Crying she says is a purely physiological response to stress, if she feels like crying its because she’s really stressed. The important thing is to identify the trigger which can assist to control the physiological response, which may simply be by removing yourself and giving yourself an opportunity to cry in private.

With decision making, we all make the best decisions we can at the time with the information at our disposal. If the decision is wrong, we fix it. The important thing is to make a decision.

You talk about changing what pisses you off. What pisses you off now?

There is a program Samantha is involved with for Air Force Cadets, which although governed by the RAAF, is run by volunteers. What frustrates her is expecting volunteers to adhere to RAAF policies, and this is something that she’ll be working to change.

You mentioned that you work for a great boss. What makes that boss great?

He sets deadlines because he knows that otherwise Samantha tends to procrastinate. He understands flexibility, and that sometimes she needs to work around kids. He is creative, and also a supportive boss in that if she does something silly he “has her back.”

The post A night to remember and leadership stories to be shared! appeared first on Women's Networking Events - Melbourne.