Gen X

Success in Two Words – Be Memorable.

Posted in Careers & Jobs, Customer Service, Hiring Talent, Hot Topics and New Bits, inspiration, Leadership, People-Skills, Sales

Starting a company? Looking for a job? Attempting to sell your house? Trying to change careers? Get noticed by being different but …

to achieve success — be memorable.



Memorable is not just what makes you different.  Memorable connects you with others in ways that matter to them.

Success in Two Words - Be Memorable.



Memorable affects others.

Memorable creates a story.

Memorable builds a trust.

Memorable sparks an insight.

Memorable fosters respect.

Memorable eliminates doubt.

Memorable comes back to you.

Memorable keeps you present.

Memorable changes their reality.

Memorable reflects value.

Memorable brings you into their future.





Be Memorable!

    Do you have noticeably good planning skills? Add and use foresight to be memorable. Prevent a problem on a project or discover and open an opportunity for your customer, your boss or your organization. Outstanding skills get you noticed. Using them to help others makes you memorable.


    Are you a remarkably fast learner? Your boss can hand you anything new and you can do it? That’s good. Learn before the skill is needed and you increase your value. Start today to be memorable tomorrow.


    Do you have a special talent for teamwork? Worthwhile in today’s collaborative workplace. Excel at it during times of stress, low morale, or critical change and you will be memorable to every leader.


    Are you a people person? Sales or customer service is your sweet spot? Certainly a plus. To be memorable, deliver wonderful service recovery with urgency. Offer customers compensation even for the smallest inconvenience. It builds phenomenal trust and reaps gratitude. You will be memorable!

Kick Start Your Success
The suggestions above are just a few examples. Try these questions to discover how you can be memorable:

  1. What three things do most people notice about you? Why? The answer will uncover ways for you to be memorable.
  2. What is one strength that people don’t notice in you? Start using it in ways that matter to others.
  3. What are two areas in your work or personal life where you see a need, a void, pain, fear, or doubt in others?. Fill the need/void or remove the pain, fear, or doubt. You will be memorable.



How have you been memorable in your work or personal life? Please share your story in the comments section below to inspire others.

To our continued mutual growth,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach


©2011 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. If you want to re-post or republish, please email info@katenasser.com. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach, delivers workshops, keynotes, and consultations that turn interaction obstacles into interpersonal success. Leaders have been booking Kate for 21 years to fill the gaps of diversity with business wins. See this site for customer results and book Kate now.

Team Building Across Generations – Proven Approach

Posted in Leadership, Teamwork

Diversity on teams generally breeds better results and more success. Is this now true of the generational diversity in the workplace? It can be if you as leaders provide team building across the generations. Maximize the value of generational differences and you can realize the potential and success of experience meeting youthful innovation.

There are light, fun ways for team members across generations to get to know each other.   If you want members of multi-generational teams to get to know how they each think, here is a proven approach that produces more substantive results than the purely lighthearted fun events.

I developed this exercise, Success is Ageless, to use with one of my customers and now use it in several variations with many other customers around the globe.

Teamwork Across Generations (Istock image)

Team Building Across Generations

Benefits of the Success is Ageless team building exercise:

  1. Common bonds built from both similarity and difference
  2. Fewer fear-based hidden blocks
  3. Respect from common struggles of different journeys
  4. Success from experience meeting innovation

Setting: Simple office training or conference room that allows people to move around and work together.  The setup must encourage interaction. ( Do not do this exercise around one conference table or in a room with rows of tables/chairs.  These setups do not encourage interaction.)

A/V: Internet access, printing capability, flip charts/easels, videoconferencing (if virtual teams).

Approach: Step One – Have each team member select an image from online resources — one image from her/his early childhood or early teenage years.   They should select an image that made an impression on them, say something about them, or changed their outlook in some way.  If for some reason you will not have internet access, ask the team members to do this step in advance and bring the image to the team building workshop.  If you have team members that are not computer savvy, they can bring a copy of a picture from newspapers, books, magazines etc…

Once this step is done, break into groups of 3 team members each of mixed generations.  For the image from childhood/adolescence, each one tells a story about what was happening to her/him that coincided with that image.   How did it shape who they are today?

Step Two: Hand out a pre-printed image of a current event.  Team members in each group discuss the image. A current event that suggests both struggle and success/achievement tends to work best.

Here are the guided discussion questions for this segment:

  1. What feelings do we share about this event?
  2. Where do our outlooks differ?
  3. What do differences represent to each team member — win/lose, right/wrong, need for collaboration/flexibility, chaos/order, fear/courage, hierarchy/teamwork, etc..

To end this team building exercise, highlight how team diversity can breed great success.  It may take longer for teams to gel and get along.  Nonetheless the different talents, knowledge, outlooks, and innovative ideas are essential readiness tools to handle any challenge that comes to the team. Diversity also helps prevent the terrible plague of groupthink.

Pair up one last time.  Write and read aloud one positive statement about the talent, knowledge, and insight that your partner brings to the team’s projects and success. This final step secures the lessons learned of respecting differences and carries them into daily teamwork.

Respect the Differences.
Learn to Love the Differences.
Find the Fit.

What variations or additions to this team building exercise would you suggest?

©2010 Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. All rights reserved.

If you would like to re-post or re-publish the content of this post, please email info@katenasser.com for permission.

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach, delivers team building and customer relations workshops that bridge the gaps and deliver the benefits of diversity. Contact her now to deliver custom team sessions that bring your diverse teams to the heights of success.

New Leaders, Pictures 4 Critical Success

Posted in Leadership, People-Skills, Soft Skills

Volumes are written on becoming a great leader.  The skills and challenges can seem complex and overwhelming. There is so much to learn. New leaders are particularly challenged to quickly learn and master leadership skills to lead the team to success. As a client recently outlined the challenges of one of his new leaders, I immediately thought of pictures that would fuel her critical success.

You can apply leadership principles more quickly with pictures that remind, reinforce, and trigger successful behaviors. As you read this post, please share in the comments field a lesson and/or picture that you think fuels new leaders’ success.



Pictures for Critical Success

    Picture 4 Critical Success Image by: Thomas Hawke

  1. Avoid Micro-Managing. Have someone take a picture of you holding a ball with both hands. Put the picture on your desk and in your mobile device. Look at the picture morning, noon, and later in the day. Ask yourself, do you want to be holding that same ball for the rest of your professional life? If not, you must let others carry the ball!



    2. Picture Open Discussion Image by:Lynn Dumbrowski

  2. Resolving Conflict. As a leader if you ignore conflict or lead in order to avoid it at all costs, your results may suffer. Whether you are afraid of conflict or just new at dealing with it, conflicts in office environments are resolved through great questions, listening, understanding, and discussion. When you sense conflict may erupt, immediately picture people talking it out. Then take steps to make it happen.


  3. Feelings of Inadequacy. Handled well, your feelings of inadequacy can lead to your success. Overlooked or mishandled, they can turn you into a little Napoleon. Don’t let that happen to you. Select a picture of strength that speaks to you and spurs your growth: an unpolished diamond, an oak tree, vegetation on a beach that thrives even after a storm, or pictures of you – as a baby, a teenager, and today. Believe in yourself as you learn and grow.


  4. Recognizing Contributions Big & Small. Study after study in western workplaces show that recognition is a universal morale builder and preserver. This story of a starfish creates a memorable picture and is one of my favorite leadership reminders: StarFish – Every Contribution Makes a Difference.



    5. Lead People Image by: Cymph37

  5. Lead People, Manage Processes. If you were a strong line manager before being promoted to a leadership position, now you must lead people not manage them. How to remember the difference? Try this picture —>.
    People are moved by inspiration, processes aren’t.




There are many free pictures online at http://flickr.com, http://www.google.com/imghp, and low cost pictures on many other sites. Consider having each team member pick out a picture that will remind, reinforce, and trigger a critical success behavior for themselves. Pictures are powerful reminders.


From my professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™

©2011 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. If you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please first email info@katenasser.com for terms of use. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™, delivers coaching, consulting, training, and keynotes on leading change, customer service, customer experience, and teamwork. She turns interaction obstacles into business success. See this site for workshop outlines, keynote footage, and customer results.

Older Job Seekers – Leverage You!

Posted in Careers & Jobs, Thriving in Change

If you are a Baby Boomer or Gen X and you find yourself downsized/out of work, how will you compete with the younger workers for jobs?  Leverage “you”.   Above all make sure you are using LinkedIn and Twitter. 

Here is the link for Twitter job posts: www.twitterjobsearch.com/map.  Also another link I found on Twitter on how to avoid the biggest job search mistakes: http://bit.ly/qiNWR.  

#1 Prepare simple statements that explain why you over the younger workers.

Sample.  “I am more valuable now than when I got out of school.  I apply my years of experience to the challenges of this decade.  I have been through many changes in my life so to me – change is normal.  I see experience as a guide not a bible.  I stay current with technology and I work easily with people of different ages, cultures, and education.  I am smart, trainable, and learn fast.   

To write your statement, read the related blog post here on this site:   http://katenasser.com/apply-yourself-and-then-apply-for-that-job/

#2 Bridge the gap for the interviewer.  Many interviewers are incented by their companies to hire young ones even though they do not admit it.  Give them significant evidence that you are the best hire to help them overcome their fears of bucking “corporate think”.   Not all interviewers are change agents at heart.   You must reduce their fear if you want a shot at the job.  And of course, don’t tell them they are afraid! 

#3 Back up your claims of being “current”.   Make sure you are on some online site such as LinkedIn or Twitter.  Learn how to text message.  Read up on current jargon in your field and in online networking.  Prepare examples of how you are using current technology to learn.  Are you doing webinars?  Are you going to school online?  All of this makes you “current”.

You are welcome to share this information with other blogs and social media if you credit this blog post.   I also welcome your comments and questions below.

Many thanks for visiting and click the RSS feed to receive updates on blog posts.

Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach

http://katenasser.com