For today’s #thankfulthursdays I would like to give gratitude to Deborah Torres-Patel for this piece of advice.

In a previous article I’ve talked about How to Instantly Overcome your Fear of Public Speaking. But Deborah’s advice sums this up entirely.

What she says is that this piece of advice is worth millions of dollars as it has been utilized by professional public speakers across the globe.

And that is:

“Public Speaking is just talking to one person at a time in front of other people.”

Let me give you a specific example based on my own personal experience.

In the past, my weakness was really about public speaking. I was afraid to go onstage and talk in front of other people.

Public speaking gave me a lot of anxiety. I used to stutter a lot, plus I had a very monotonous voice. All while I had butterflies in my stomach.

That’s one of the reasons why I did networking.

The money was one factor, but I was also amazed at how the speaker had so much confidence. His stage presence was on point. I wanted to be that good at public speaking.

Fast forward to 2018, I have since long left the world of networking, but I still carried with me the lessons I have learned at public speaking.

I have gained a lot of confidence, I no longer stuttered, my tonality has become very lively, and I have learned to harness the energy of having butterflies in my stomach, and turn it from nervousness into excitement.

But there was still a missing factor – establishing a connection, making you, as a member of the audience, feel as if I am speaking directly to you, and no one else.

And that is what Deborah has summed up nicely.

Simply put, all you have to do to establish a great connection with every audience member, is to take it as if you are talking to one person at a time, but only that you’re in front of other people.

So the way you talk should be as if you are talking to one person alone.

That means, you are not supposed to say things such as:

• “Ladies and Gentlemen”
• “How is everybody doing today”
• “How many of you”

Because those are words that you do not use in a one-on-one conversation.

Instead, talk as if you were addressing one person alone:

• “Hi”
• “How are you doing today”
• “Raise your hand if”

See the difference?

And that is the x-factor that some of the best public speakers in the world have, that others don’t.

How about you, what are the common words that some people wrongly use to address the audience as a crowd, and how do you think you can rephrase them to talk to one person alone?

Respond with a comment.

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It’s #thankfulthursdays and I’d like to give gratitude to Nevitt Sanford for conceptualizing this.

It’s called the Challenge and Support Model, which, in a nutshell, What Sanford is saying is that you have to establish a balance between Challenge and Support to drive career growth not just for yourself, but for your team members, and even for your children.

Read on to see how it works.

There’s an article that expounds on this a bit but nedless to say, for every Challenge raised, there must be an equivalent amount of Support provided.

That is what will allow a person to grow.

If you give too many challenges without providing enough support, you will experience a lot of failure, and worse, people will despise you for it.

It’s like asking them to go to war without any ammunition. It’s suicide.

On the other hand, if you give too much Support without an appropriate amount of Challenges, people will feel like you are spoonfeeding them. They will never grow.

It’s like giving them all the guns and ammo the world has to offer without training them. Plus they’ll never know how to survive in the jungle.

There always has to be a balance of both Challenge and Support, and according to Sanford, that’s the best way to grow.

The post The Only 2 Things You Need to Supercharge Career Growth! appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For #thankfulthursdays I’d like to give gratitude to Pat Whitty for teaching me this.

I would say that this information is GOLD, and I’d recommend every leader to have this as a checklist where you will ensure that each and every one of these “employee needs” get addressed at certain intervals.

Based on a study performed by Gallup, there are 12 Needs that Employees Require to find True Engagement and Perform at Their Best:

1. Focus on me
2. Equip me
3. Help me find my fit
4. Recognize a contribution, weekly
5. Care about me
6. Help me grow
7. Hear me
8. Help me find the impact of what WE do
9. Help me feel everyone will be held to equally high standards
10. Help me find and form vital relationships at work
11. Assess my progress and areas for growth
12. Challenge me

It does not have to happen all at the same time. Some may be weekly, some annually or when you set objectives, and some are behaviors that you have to exhibit each and every day.

As a leader, I myself will be implementing this and ensuring these become habits that I live by day in and day out.

And I would hope that you will do the same too.

Share this with a leader who you think would benefit greatly from this!

The post 12 Needs that Employees Require to find True Engagement and Improve Performance appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For #thankfulthursdays I would like to give gratitude to Brandon Foltz.

You know when there’s a skill that you haven’t practiced for some time and you feel rusty so you want some sort of refresher to enable you to get a hang of it again?

Well I was in that exact situation a few years ago, specific to Logistic Regression, when I had to create a predictive model to address one of the business pain points I was working on.

Thankfully, I found this tutorial by Brandon that was even better than when I first learned all about Logistic Regression.

And I’d like to share it with you so that you can benefit from it as well.

I hope you learned something from this.

If you want to learn more, download a copy of my book for FREE (for a limited time only) – The Business Optimization Blueprint, and learn how you can improve your business process and take it to the next level.

The post DEMYSTIFIED: How and When to apply Logistic Regression appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For today’s #thankfulthursdays I would like to give gratitude to the people who have taken me under their wing.

These people have paved the way to me becoming the Business Optimization Expert I am today.

To my first boss in this field – Kalyan, who hired me because he saw something in me through my Robinson Crusoe story, thank you for investing in me and ensuring I have everything I need to become successful in my role, including my learning towards becoming a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

To my former colleagues – Remi, Aubrey, and Mel, thank you for teaching me what you know. Your generosity in sharing knowledge nuggets, and patience in me for constantly bugging you for questions.

If not for these people, I would not have been able to win my first Hall of Fame Award for generating over $1 Million Dollars.

And lastly, to the person who succeeded Kalyan – Marian, thank you for making me feel empowered. I have learned so much from your meticulous level of detail, as well as your coaching and mentoring techniques.

I would like to pay it forward by teaching what I learned from these mentors to others. I will do this by:

There’s an upcoming GoLeanSixSigma.com Green Belt Flipped Classroom session to be facilitated by me.

20% discount applies to early bird enrollees.

Click here for details on how a Flipped Classroom works, and to enroll and get a slot.

The post With Respect to This Thing is Concerned appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For #thankfulthursdays I would like to give gratitude to John Lee for reminding me about setting short, medium, and long term goals.

It’s about breaking-down your long-term goals into medium-term milestones, and further on until your baby step goals.

That way, you can keep getting constant feedback to ensure you’re going in the right direction, or if you need to make course corrections as early as possible.

I won’t say more as I would not want to water-down John’s message, so I would prefer you hear it straight from him.

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A post shared by John Lee (@john_lee_official)

I hope this helped you as much as it did me.

If you want more of these, subscribe for updates and get a free (for a limited time only) copy of my e-book, The Business Optimization Blueprint – A simple 5-step process to Transforming your Business to take it to the next level.

The post Who else does this to Stay Motivated? appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For today’s #thankfulthursdays I would like to give gratitude to Sifu Dan Lok for teaching me this.

You know how they make you take those personality tests like DISC?

And then once you determine your personality type and that of your colleagues and team members, supposedly it will allow you to be able to work together better, since you already know the personality of each.

The problem there is that if you’re speaking with a client, or a visitor, or doing an interview with a potential hire, it’s very difficult to gauge their personality without having to have them take the DISC test.

So when it comes to figuring out how to best persuade potential clients, influence stakeholders, motivate your team, or gauge the personality and team fit of a potential new hire, there has to be a better way of gauging their personality quickly, so you can adjust your approach accordingly.

What Dan Lok has taught me is that there are 4 Personality Types, which can be described as gems – Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, and Pearl. He dives deep into each type, and explains what motivates them.

That way, you’ll be able to quickly gauge the personality of the person you’re speaking with, while you are having a conversation with them.

Here’s how.

It’s a bit lengthy at 45 minutes, but I assure you, you will get more value out of this that applies on the real world than if you just bum around and watch an episode of your favorite show.

I hope you found this to be useful, as it has been to me.

I know there are a lot of gurus teaching the exact same methods, and this may or may not even have originated from Dan Lok. But so far from what I’ve seen, he has the best explanation of this method, which has worked well for me.

In fact, I’ve used this within my team to help each member appreciate one another even more.

I’ve also used this to gauge stakeholders, and this has allowed me to have more meaningful conversations, and allowed me to quickly get their buy-in for certain initiatives.

Lastly, I’ve used this with great effect when interviewing potential hires.

I just ask: “What motivates you most? I will give you 4 choices, and you can tell me which one you can relate to or fits your personality the most.”

Then I go an explain each:

• (Ruby) Are you motivated by a challenge? Like if someone says “it can’t be done,” you’re the type who would say “watch me.”
• (Sapphire) Are you motivated by fun? Like if someone tells you to do something, and tells you it’s going to be a lot of fun.
• (Emerald) Are you motivated by analysis, data, facts, and figures? Like if someone tells you to do something and presents you with data and analysis as to why it makes sense.
• (Pearl) Are you motivated by a being part of a bigger cause? Like if someone tells to do something because it will be for the better good of our clients, customers, and employees.

Their answer to the above would allow me to gauge how and where they would best fit in the team, if we decide to them.

Give it a try! And let me know how it goes. Reply with a comment. I would love to hear if it was effective for you.

The post 4 Types of People and How to Influence Them appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

It’s #thankfulthursdays and for today I’d like to give gratitude to Seth Godin for teaching me this.

“Copy me so I don’t have to do it anymore.” – Seth Godin

What he meant by this isn’t copy-pasting or plagiarizing content.

It’s more of let’s say you started doing things the way I do it, you adapt my best practices, make them your own, it means I have made my mark in the world and I can move on and innovate further and create new things that will be of value to the world!

If you’re a leader then I’m sure this would make sense to you. Transferring knowledge, skillsets, and developing people is what we live for.

And because I’m grateful to you for reading this, I would like to make your day by giving you some value.

Here are some options of how you can copy and acquire some of my very own skillsets.

Option 1: Download and read my book – The Business Optimization Blueprint.

Here you will learn the things I do to improve business processes.

In this book I share a simple 5-step process where you can:

1. Document your Process
2. Establish your Process Flow and Metrics
3. Innovate by Design Thinking
4. Continuous Process Improvement through Lean Six Sigma
5. Become Agile to continuously iterate and “future-proof” your business

Note that you don’t have to try and implement everything I teach in that book.

The steps aren’t necessarily dependent. Just take what you think is applicable to what you do and start with that.

So download a copy of my book for FREE (for a limited time only) – The Business Optimization Blueprint, and learn how you can improve business processes and your skills too!

Option 2: Upskill yourself by taking my recommended courses

If you want to take specific courses related to what I think are some of the most vital skills of the future, then visit https://robbieagustin.com/courses for details.

Option 3: Read my blog articles

On a daily basis I write about topics that will help you up your skills to make a better version of you.

Click on the menu of my website to see the topics such as Agile, Lean Six Sigma, Data Science, Automation, and so forth.

You can also read my daily blogs where I talk about:

• #motivationmondays – I talk about things to get you started through the week
• #transformationtuesdays – I share Use Cases and Success Stories
• #wisdomwendesdays – I share something I know or learned that I think might be helpful to others
• #thankfulthursdays – I show gratitude to someone for giving me something of value
• #futurefridays – Future of Work and Emerging Technologies

Option 4: Do Nothing

Do not do anything.

Yes, thats an option too. Do absolutely nothing and just go back to how your life has been.

Status quo, no change, no new learning. You’re safe in your comfort zone.

But remember, you can’t expect a different result by just doing the same stuff over and over again.

Your call.

So, which of the 4 options will you choose? Reply with a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

The post Copy me so I don’t have to do it anymore. The Leadership Mindset for People Development. appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For today’s #thankfulthursdays I would like to give gratitude to Tom Bilyeu, for teaching me how to use anger, hate, self-doubt, and turn that into the driving force to keep you going, just when you think you’re about to give up.

He recommends you keep a list of all your haters, trolls, and anyone who has ever doubted you, including that little voice inside of you, your own self-doubt.

Because just when you think you’re about to give up, you can channel all that anger and hatred to give you a reason to push, make it happen, and prove them wrong.

While I’m not really a person who gets angry, or holds a grudge against anyone, I can completely relate to the study that Tom talks about, and how people are able to do at least 30% more by using this technique.

There’s a reason why Anger exists. Use it to your advantage!

Check it out!

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A post shared by Tom Bilyeu (@tombilyeu)

The post How to turn your Anger and Hatred into Motivation appeared first on Robbie Agustin.

For #thankfulthursdays I would like to give gratitude to none other than my team.

I’m not allowed to mention your names here, nor whom we work for, but you know who you are.

What I can mention and tell you here is that your flexibility and dedication to deliver the greatest work each and every time, despite having tight timelines and juggling multiple things altogether, is second to none.

I hope that all this brings out the best version of you.

As Warren Buffet would say:

“Surround yourself with people that push you to do better. No drama or negativity. Just higher goals and higher motivation, good times, and positive energy. No jealousy or hate. Simply bringing out the absolute best in each other.”

Thank you for being someone who makes things happen.

Because of that, the seeds we have planted as a team have started to come into fruition.

Great things are about to come. Stay tuned!

The post Fill in the blank: Surround yourself with people that push you to do _____ appeared first on Robbie Agustin.