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 Issue 92                                          October 2015
Welcome! If you enjoyed last month you'll be craaaaazy about this month!
The purpose of this ezine is inspiration, humor, business, personal and just plain fun: aka the don't-take-yourself-so-seriously ezine.
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IN THIS ISSUE:
I Love This Book!
Creative Captions
Shoe-Be-Doo
Wonderful WEBSITEings/Awesome Apps
Mikki Mouth
Perplexing Ponderances
Social Media Guru Guy
Life Lessons...
MikkiLeaks
He Who Laughs...
Outrageous Orators
Inspiration
Conscious Kindness
Speakers School
Mikki on the Move
Mikki Williams, CSP, CPAE
Thanks for joining us!
MUSINGS FROM MIKKI
I don't know what's more exciting, what happened last month or what's happening this month. For starters, I went to see A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder with "my Sam" and liked it much more than we thought we might! What a fun show!
It's been a busy biz time - first on the Cape for a Vistage retreat, then to St. Paul, Minnesota's fab showroom at River of Goods, and on to Austin for another retreat and some outrageous barbecue. I had the opportunity to be hired as a speech coach for three Vistage member CEOs who were selected to do ten-minute presentations at the Chicago Vistage Executive Summit. I loved working with all of them and
Sandy Marsico
was especially proud that my member Sandy Marsico was one of the ones chosen for this honor.
A highlight of the month was my Key group's annual Vistage retreat hosted by
Vistage Key group retreat

Francine Lasky, and it was perfection on all levels.
Twenty-four of us in four rented houses at Eagle Ridge Resort in Galena.
Everyone brought food (prepare to drool, below).
Dale Lasky provided us with a competitive game of Name That Tune and our speaker Jay Rifenbary
Jay Rifenbary
did an awesome job.

A few of us went to a medium in Dubuque, IA (!) and later I wound up getting caught on camera dancing the Salsa with the owner of The Smokestack: CHECK OUT THE VIDEO HERE.

Then I grabbed a few days at my Florida home with BFF Chris from Wales, and connected with UK client Tony Gordon for dinner.
Tony, me and Chris

I went to my #$@!%th college reunion with my original roomie, Sharon, and saw classmates I hadn't seen in years - what a hoot!
Me and Sharon with classmates
 








I enjoyed THE son's birthday in NYC
THE son
and squeezed in dinner with BFF, Kathy, aka Petal, from CT.
Petal








And my favorite Halloween story of all time is the year I went to a Halloween party and there were two people dressed as me! The ultimate compliment (at least for me!).
Check out the photo at the bottom of the ezine.
Enjoy Halloween!
(I'll be dressing in my regular clothes.)
 
Mikki's a dessert! 
Click here for the details and a special invitation for you.

I LOVE THIS BOOK!
Develop Mindfulness for Greater Clarity, Lower Stress, Increased Productivity, and a Happier Life in Just 8 Minutes a Day
by Victor Davich

I have had a lifelong struggle with the practice of meditation. I've sought out books, advice, seminars on how to master it. ReadingThrive by Arianna Huffington (which I'll review next month), opened my eyes to what mindfulness really is. 8 Minute Meditation solidified the practice of it.  
For me, the word meditation conjured images of sitting on a floor cross-legged for an extended period of time, moaning some obscure sound while trying to quiet my ever-busy mind. Understanding the difference or sameness, if you will, of mindfulness and meditation and the simplicity of this book...I got it!! This book is geared to those of us with a busy lifestyle (and who doesn't have that?) to help us develop a powerful practice that can help  over a lifetime. 

NOW GO GET THIS BOOK! 

CREATIVE CAPTIONS
Sleevey Wonders
Reversible slip-on sleeves to be worn under sleeveless garments  (I LOVE them!!!)
   

Mikki in Shoe SHOE-BE-DOO
Great Halloween shoe, you say?
Nah...it's an everyday shoe for me.


AWESOME APP
Waze is all about contributing to the 'common good' out there on the road. By connecting drivers to one another, we help people create local driving communities that work together to improve the quality of everyone's daily driving. That might mean helping them avoid the frustration of sitting in traffic, cluing them in to a police trap or shaving five minutes off of their regular commute by showing them new routes they never even knew about.
MIKKI MOUTH
Things I Wish I'd Said and Some I Did Say!
Mikki Mouth - 2 books
Enjoy a quote each month from my book - some funny, some poignant, some professional, some just darn cute!
 
Riches don't make a man rich, they only make him busier.


  
   
 
Mikki speaking

Mikki Mouth Club    

NOW...not one, not two, but THREE divisions of 

The Mikki Mouth Club!

CLICK HERE  for more information

  

If you want Mikki's expertise at an affordable price on an ongoing basis The Mikki Mouth Club is for you.

Questions? We've got answers!! 

Just call 312.664.8447 or  send us an email


PERPLEXING PONDERANCES
If nothing ever sticks to Teflon, how do they make
Teflon stick to the pan?
...in Wilmington, Delaware on October 28, 2015. 
Will you be in the Wilmington area? If so, get your ticket HERE!
If not, watch for an announcement as to when it airs globally.
 
What is TEDx? 
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.


SOCIAL MEDIA GURU GUY 
by Dave Nelsen 

Dave's formal title is President, Dialog Consulting Group. From 2005 to 2009 he was CEO of TalkShoe, a social media company now serving more than one million monthly listeners...and the fabulous company I use to produce my monthly teleseminars.     

Keeping Up In a World of Accelerating Change
People ask me all the time, "Dave, how do you keep up with all this social media and mobile technology? It's evolving so rapidly!"
There's a good reason for this question, but it applies more broadly to virtually any industry and to life in general.
Reportedly, we're dealing with roughly 10-times the amount of information we faced just 3 years ago. And we'll be dealing with roughly 10-times more information 3 years from now. And 10X more three years after that ...
My answer has three parts:

 

First, don't try to learn alone. Instead, find the blogs, the technical forums, the LinkedIn groups, and the other trusted sources where you can learn from myriad appropriately focused individuals. That's why you read this newsletter and this column, no?

 

Second, find time for continued learning. You're too busy, you say? Au contraire, I say...if you just change media. We all have lots of time for learning when we're busy but our minds are not intellectually occupied. I'm talking about when we're driving, exercising, mowing the lawn. During these kinds of activities, you can learn by listening. Audible.com has 100,000+ audio books. I recommend The Four Hour Work Week, The Tyranny of eMail, Team of Rivals, Becoming Steve Jobs, The Innovators, Brain Rules, Atlas Shrugged, and the always classic Think and Grow Rich, to name just eight of eighty audiobooks that I've listened to in the past few years. The other form of audio content is podcasts - content produced by anyone with a passion for listening on your iDevice (whether iOS, Android, or Windows). I recommend Dan Carlin's Hardcore History (no, it's not about the porn industry), NPR Science Friday, 99% Invisible, Planet Money, and Cellar Dwellers Home Winemaking. Okay, that last one is mine - a 70-part podcast my winemaking partner and I recorded about how to make wine. Even if you just like drinking wine, you'll likely enjoy it.  

 

Third, make friends with a geek who keeps up with technology. I'm pretty sure that's why Mikki remains friends with me. You can ask your geek any question whenever you encounter a challenge. If they don't know the answer, you can bet that they'll Google it or watch an instructive YouTube video and then provide you an answer as if it sprang straight from their brain. The amount of information at their (and your) fingertips is just unbelievable.  

If you don't like geeks, buddy up with a Millennial instead. If you're a Millennial, find one 14-year old and one 55-year old. Your new younger friend will help you discover what's next, while your new older friend will convey the ancient wisdom, like how to set-up your voicemail greeting, or how to pick an appropriate subject line for your email.  

Okay, that last comment was rather stereotypical, but even if it's not true for you, we all have something to learn from each other.

 
 
You can find more formal details here: 
To contact Dave directly:
LIFE LESSONS...FUNNY, FIT John Godoy
OR FABULOUS
by John Godoy 
John Godoy is a healthy lifestyle expert. Through personal coaching, training and healthy lifestyle seminars, John guides clients in developing and sticking to the healthy habits necessary to tap their bodies enormous energy reserves - enriching their personal and
professional lives. 
 



To get more information and great tips visit John's website: www.johngodoylifestyle.com
Little girl chef
THE HAPPY COOKER
That was the name of one of my businesses and oh, come on,
I know guys cook, too.
Mini Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes 
Makes 24 cupcakes

  • 1 cup self-rising flour
  • 2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup canned pure pumpkin
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/3 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • Chopped crystallized ginger (optional)
  • 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • Orange and black food coloring; orange, black, white, and yellow candies and sugar crystals

 

Preheat oven to 350�F.
Line 24 mini muffin cups with paper liners.
Mix flour, golden brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice in large bowl. Whisk egg, canned pure pumpkin, vegetable oil, sour cream, and vanilla extract in medium bowl. Add mixture to dry ingredients; stir to fully combine. Spoon batter into paper liners (batter will almost fill liners).
Scatter crystallized ginger over, if desired. Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 16 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely on rack.
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl to blend. Beat in powdered sugar.
Divide frosting among 3 bowls. Tint frosting in first bowl with orange coloring (or combine red and yellow coloring to make orange) and frosting in second bowl with black coloring, keeping frosting in third bowl white. Chill frosting 2 hours or until firm enough to easily spread. Frost cupcakes; decorate using candy and sugar crystals as desired.
  

 

 

MikkiLeaks by Phil Liebman
 
Classy-fide information available on a need-to-know basis...
that YOU need to know!
I Did This on Purpose
In accepting the noble and dangerous assignment of investigating and exposing truths for Mikki-Leaks, my promise to you, my readers, has been to provide the information you need to know on a need to know basis, with hopes that I may help you become heroic business leaders. So what do you need to know about having a purpose or knowing as much about "why" you lead as "how" you lead others?  
It's easy to dismiss the "need" for a clear sense of purpose driving our businesses as the fodder of self-help books and the mumbo-jumbo of self-proclaimed business gurus. No person or business ever became successful by simply writing a vision or mission statement. How we think may be critical to how we perform, but the idea that we "Think and Grow Rich" is no more plausible than believing that hope is a viable strategy.    
I believe it is clear that nothing worth accomplishing has ever been achieved without the dedication of hard work, commitment and, like it or not,  some luck. So why, then, does having a deep sense of purpose make a difference in achieving your best or realizing your potential? How is having a purpose all that different from hoping for the best?  
I would address the question by suggesting that purpose is what aligns our thinking with the necessary action to be taken. Purpose links directly to planning. In fact, it is what guides our plans. Without purpose the actions we take tend to be random or misguided. Luck becomes a more needed ingredient in accomplishing what we set out to do. But leading with purpose we can understand what we need to "be" in order to do what needs to be done. In other words the characteristics that enable us to plan for what we want to happen, plan around what we do not want to  happen and even plan for the unexpected, all come from understanding the purpose behind our actions.   

 
 
Phil Liebman is a Vistage Group Chair, a Fellow at the Thayer Institute for Leadership Virtuosity and the Founder of the BullFrog Group - helping CEOs become better leaders. You can reach him by email at phil@Strat.com - or by phone at 845.262.8611
Laughing baby
HE WHO LAUGHS...LASTS!

OUTRAGEOUS ORATORS
Outrageous Orators 
To book me or any of the other guest columnists like Dave Nelson, Brian Beaulieu, John Godoy, simply contact us. For any or all your presentation needs on any topic at any price point,  be it keynote, training, seminar, emcee, facilitator, moderator, concurrents  (I just don't do floors or windows) I know many great speakers from my years with the National Speakers Association and Vistage International.

MIKKI'S MANTRA

INSPIRATION

CONSCIOUS KINDNESS
 Celebrate those around you by doing random acts of kindness for strangers, just for the sake of making someone else happy. Pay the tab for someone behind you in line at the coffee shop, gas station or drive-through. It doesn't have to be costly, just friendly.

Speakers School is going on the road in 2016!
Now, more Speakers Schools than ever - probably in a city near you...or a great vacation spot.  
   

CALL NOW FOR MORE DETAILS: 312.664.8447 

OR SEND AN EMAIL TO REQUEST MORE INFORMATION.

               
Favorite speaker

Speaker Mag
MIKKI ON THE MOVE
Airplane Check out where Mikki will be speaking and piggyback your company or association event. Or just invite her to dinner or shopping!
Click Mikki On The Move to view her calendar.
 

MIKKI WILLIAMS, CSP, CPAE
Mikki Williams earned the dual designations of CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) and CPAE (Council of Peers Award for Excellence) Speaker Hall of Fame from The National Speakers Association, an achievement attained by fewer than 1% of all professional speakers. She specializes in business dynamics and human potential. She has been named one of the top speakers in the country by Meetings and Convention Magazine along with Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Colin Powell, Lou Holtz and Mike Ditka. Mikki is also one of the top tier speaker resources for Vistage International, the world's leading executive organization, and Group Chair of two of their peer advisory boards in Chicago.
Her company Mikki Williams Unltd. produces Speakers Schools in Chicago, a monthly ezine: Hair She Is...! and a blog: Mikki Williams' Blah Blah...Blog. She is sought after for business, life and presentation skills coaching through her firm Coaching, etc... She also facilitates The Mikki Mouth Club, an annual subscription-based presentation skills coaching membership with three distinct divisions...Speaker Source, Accountability Academy and Keynote Kamp. If you need other speakers, she can book you the best through her Outrageous Orators...speakers who rock, an uncommon speakers bureau.

 

To hire Mikki or learn more about any of these services:

CALL ME: 312.664.8447

E ME: mikki@mikkiwilliams.com 

SEE ME: www.mikkiwilliams.com 

Thanks for joining us!

   Me and "the staff" at Mikki Williams Unltd.: Marissa Pedroza, DOE-in training and Samantha Hoffman, aka 'my Sam, Director of Everything. When you have a director of everything (or two!), what else do you need?
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Duplication or reprint only with expressed permission from Mikki Williams. All trademarks are property of their respective owners. All contents provided as is. In our extensive research we've made every attempt to be accurate in attributing quotes, poems, jokes and the like, and want to apologize in advance if we have not given proper credit or given it erroneously. If you are the owner of the rights of any of this content, please contact us so we may arrange for appropriate permission and give credit.