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 Issue 101                                                 July 2016

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:
MUSINGS FROM MIKKI

It's my birthday month and I celebrate all month, as you might expect for someone born on the 4th of July, or maybe just because you know me!

June was filled with lots of friends and food. For the first time in my three decade career, I am able to sign up for a course that meets every week...woo hoo! Meaning I am  truly making efforts towards less travel. I am taking Improv at Second City as I am back to working on my one woman show (stay tuned for more info!). 


NSA
I spoke for the Kentucky chapter of NSA National Speakers Association and was awarded a plaque from the Governor, making me a Kentucky Colonel. It's now hanging next to my plaque honoring me as Honorary Duck Master at the Peabody Memphis...fun recognitions!

I spoke for two Vistage groups in Chicago
COO Ellen Hansen, Walker Sands Communications
then off to Boulder, CO for the annual Keepers of the Flame, an incredible personal development weekend with those who have been Vistage Chairs for over 10 years.

Keepers of the Flame
 
 
 
 




Had lunch with Harvey Goldberg from DC, Vistage Chair and speaker and cherished friend.
Harvey Goldberg
Speakers School grad and Gold Dolphins CEO Randy Nelson from NC flew in for my two-day Keynote Kamp, a one-on-one where I help clients design an entire keynote speech. 
I am continuing with Mikki Mondays, pure me-time with no electronics or phone. Can you imagine that?! 
Saw War Paint, the musical, and had countless lunches and dinners with so many friends and new connections, and just truly enjoying my home time and my fabulous city of Chicago where I am keeping my FitBit busy with my 12 miles a day of walking.  

B'day bash
My birthday party was extraordinary with 20 friends joining in the festivities at the Sofitel. 
 
Check out my outrageous birthday cake, my annual gift from BFF and
Vistage member, Beth Fahey at  Creative Cakes.  
All my gifts were amazing, but none more so than the Christian Louboutins
from dear friend, Joanna Norcross.

Oh, and the fabulous Superwoman wrapping paper from MY Sam, with my face...how cool is
that?  
I just completed another fantastic Speakers School, where attendees came from CA, AZ, NY, VA and points in between. They ran the gamut from execs to aspiring speakers to professional speakers to a comedian to 
Speakers School
Vistage members...a great mix.  
I'll be off to my annual NSA convention next week - look for details and pics next month. 
Oh, and before I forget, I received a huge honor from Vistage: the Chair Excellence and Master Chair designation. Only 48 Chairs out of 500 received this honor. Yay, me!  
I hope you're enjoying your summer as much as I am!!!
I LOVE THIS BOOK!
Return on Integrity

The New Definition of ROI and Why Leaders Need to Know It
  
by John G. Blumberg
This book takes a new and unique approach as to how people look at their company core values while at the same time taking into consideration the personal values of it's leaders. John takes the reader from leadership to legacy. I particularly liked the section on authentic engagement. "Aligning personal and organizational core values is the leading indicator that allows you to receive authentic engagement both personally and organizationally".  I often see that misalignment in some of my coaching clients and typically it's because they don't know what they don't know. John's book is a teaching tool, an inspirational model for consistent performance.  
NOW GO GET THIS BOOK!
CREATIVE CAPTIONS
  Rip van Wafels (snack waffles)




Mikki in Shoe

SHOE-BE-DOO

Look! They made shoes for my birthday!



APPS-OLUTELY AWESOME!

Beer lovers, keep track of every brew you drink. Check out different beers, rate them, and even send a virtual "cheers!" to a buddy when you like their most recent selection.



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!


"Life without liberty is like a body without spirit." 
                       - Kahlil Gibran


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



QUIRKY QUESTIONS

If you could have personally witnessed anything, what would you

want to have seen?




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.     



The Internet of Things 
You've heard of the Internet of Things (IoT). In 2015, there were reportedly 20 billion devices online. By 2020, that number will balloon to 50 billion. I'm certainly doing my part to help us get there.

The first "thing" that I added to the IoT was a gardencam. I garden because it brings a feeling of peace and serenity. It also provides a connectedness with the earth, something that's easy to lose in a technological world.

When traveling, which I do most weeks, I can access some (sadly not all) of my garden's peace and serenity remotely via the gardencam. I have a videocam positioned in the window of my third-floor home office pointed towards my garden. With remote access, I can view my garden from anywhere on the planet (assuming I have Internet access) and actually direct the camera to pan left and right, up and down.

Let's say I'm traveling during the winter and my furnace fails. Of course, I don't want the water pipes in the house to freeze and burst. So I have a weather station connected to the IoT, monitoring temperature (indoors and outdoors), humidity, rainfall, barometric pressure and the like. If the indoor temperature goes below 55 degrees (because the furnace fails), my weather station sends a text alert to my phone. That gives me 23 degrees of margin to get a technician onsite.

But I'm traveling so access to the furnace (inside the house) must be a problem? Au contraire.

My automatic garage door system is now connected to the IoT. From my iPhone, I can open and close my garage door from anywhere in the world. When the repair person gets to the house, "Just text me and I'll open the garage for you." By the way, as a handy side feature, if I leave my garage door open for more than 10 minutes, because I've driven off and forgotten to close it, the garage door sends me a text alert to remind me to do so.

Back to my hypothetical furnace repair. Won't opening the entry door (inside the garage or anywhere else in the house) set off the house alarm and call the police? Well, yes it would if my alarm system was not part of the IoT. But since it too is now online, I can activate and deactivate my alarm via my smartphone. For extra security, I've configured my alarm app so that my fingerprint is required for such actions, so a lost smartphone does not create an additional vulnerability. Even better, I always have my fingerprint with me and therefore don't need to remember a password.

There are 30 billion other things that will soon join my devices online. I can't wait to try the next one.


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.



DON'T BE THE TITANIC


Imagine that you are on a great big ocean liner in the midst of a wonderful five-day cruise in and around Alaska.

Given the fact that you will be sailing up in the North, your ship has been equipped with state of the art computer and navigation equipment allowing you, the ship's captain, to be able to detect objects at a distance in order to prevent a collision. Fortunately, with such technology you are able to detect a potential collision with a massive iceberg that is sitting 1000 nautical miles directly in your current path. With this advance knowledge you decide to be safe and make a small one-degree adjustment in course, completely avoiding the iceberg allowing you to enjoy your cruise.

Meanwhile, not-so-lucky colleagues caught up in the hustle and bustle of their lives - captaining their own ships - ignore the warning signs of the iceberg up until the point where a full head-on collision is imminent. Forced to take last minute drastic action, a few are able to just narrowly avert a colossal disaster while others are not so lucky. The tragedy aboard the Titanic is testament to the fact that evasive action at the last minute does not always avert disaster.

The message is a very simple one. You can avoid a potentially fatal health disaster later down the road of life by making small changes to your lifestyle today. Don't wait until the last minute to make the changes necessary to protect your health - it just might be too
late.


To get more information and great tips visit John's website: www.johngodoylifestyle.com


MIKKIPEDIA

The encyclopedia of wacky definitions



FREEDOM 
What the U.S. frequently exports to developing nations, by force if necessary.  
Little girl chef

THE HAPPY COOKER

That was the name of one of my businesses and oh, come on,

I know guys cook, too.


Red, White, and Blue Potato and Beet Chips

6 to 8 servings 
� lb. baking potatoes, such as russet or Idaho (about 2 small potatoes)
� lb. purple potatoes (about 4 small potatoes)
� lb. beets, peeled, and greens removed (about 2 small beets)
6 cups vegetable or canola oil
Kosher or sea salt      
 
       Fill a large bowl with cold water. Using a mandolin or a very sharp knife, slice the baking and purple potatoes into 1/8-inch-thick rounds then transfer to the cold water to soak for 5 minutes. While the potatoes soak, slice the beets into 1/8-inch-thick rounds.
       Remove the potatoes from the water and transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate, patting them completely dry.
       Line a large baking sheet with paper towels. Fill a deep, heavy-bottomed medium saucepan (or deep fryer) with 4" of oil, leaving at least 3" between the oil and the top of the saucepan. Heat the oil over moderately high heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350�F.
       Working in batches, use a slotted metal spoon or spider to carefully place the potato rounds in the hot oil. Fry, flipping as needed, until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to the paper towel-lined baking sheet and immediately season with salt. Continue to fry the remaining potatoes, returning the oil to 350�F between batches.
       Once all the potatoes are fried, fry the beets: Working in batches, use a slotted metal spoon or spider to carefully place the beet rounds in the hot oil. Fry, flipping as needed, until they begin to curl around the edges, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to the paper towel-lined baking sheet and immediately season with salt. Continue to fry the remaining beet rounds, returning the oil to 350�F between batches.
       In a large bowl, toss together the potato and beet chips, season with additional salt if necessary, and serve.  
 


2016 guest columnist:

CULTURE COLUMN

by Dr. Gustavo Grodnitzky

Dr. Gustavo Grodnitzky (Dr. Gustavo) is a speaker, author, consultant, and psychologist whose diverse background brings a unique and multidimensional perspective to his global clients. For the past 15 years, he has focused on engagements with corporate clients, and has worked with Global 1000 companies around the world, as well as with smaller, often family-run, businesses addressing a variety of topics, including corporate culture, emotional intelligence, anger management, and integrating multigenerational workforces.





Culture of Innovation

Albert Einstein said, "To do the same things over and over again and expect different results is insanity." Which means that, according to Einstein, if we want to do something better, we must do it differently than how we are currently doing that thing, or simply do it innovatively.

In order to innovate, we must consider two factors, you can't innovate without both: Factor 1 is Risk. Factor 2 is Failure. You can't innovate without both. When considering risk, whether you realize it or not, we each as individuals and organizations, develop what is referred to as a "specific risk tolerance." Here is a quick way to assess your own. If I worked for you, I'm your employee, which of these two statements might be true: 1. "Oh yeah, that guy Gustavo. I know him! He tried that process six times before he finally got it to work out right." Or 2. "Oh yeah, that guy Gustavo. I know him! He tried that process twice, and he's no longer with us." Both display a very different specific risk tolerance.
Then there is the issue of failure. Whether you are aware of it or not, we are all socialized to avoid failure. Nobody likes to fail. But the truth is that failure teaches us more than our success. Success teaches us to do the same things over and over again. It is failure that teaches us to do things differently. So I suggest we should adopt the Thomas Edison consciousness around failure.Edison was a prolific inventor. One of the many things he invented was the light bulb. Edison was once interviewed by a newspaper reporter of his time about his invention of the light bulb. The reporter asked him, "Mr. Edison, is it true that in order to invent the light bulb you did more than 1000 experiments?" Edison's response, "Why, yes, that happens to be true." So of course the follow up question was, "So Mr. Edison, doesn't that mean that in order to invent the light bulb you failed more than 1000 times?!" Edison's response, "Not at all...That just means that the invention of the light bulb was more than a 1000-step process."
Failure is a step in the process of innovation. You can not innovate without both risk and failure. And here is the real issue. Culture trumps innovation. If you, in a leadership role in your organization, are not willing to risk and fail in order to innovate, neither will anyone below you be. You are an integral part of setting the culture of risk and failure, and therefore innovation in your organization. If you're not willing to do it then don't expect anyone else to do it below you.

So as you go forward, if you are wanting those around you to be more creative and innovative, consider asking yourself, how comfortable are you with risk and failure? The last time that someone in your organization took a risk and failed, what was the consequence? Was the person punished in any way or was it seen as a learning opportunity - a step in an innovative process? If you want to create a culture of innovation every member of the organization must be allowed to embrace both risk and failure.




Laughing baby

HE WHO LAUGHS...LASTS!


OUTRAGEOUS ORATORS
 
To book me or any of the other guest columnists like Dave Nelson, Gustavo Grodnitzky, 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

Freedom's Price



Today we celebrate freedom
thanks to those who came before.

Those brave men who fought and died

in each and every war.

Freedom always comes at a price,

And while we celebrate 

We should tip our hats to the heroes 

who made our country great. 



MINDFULNESS MOTIVATION

You Are Not Your Thoughts 
Life unfolds in the present. But so often, we let the present slip away, allowing time to rush past unobserved and unseized, and squandering the precious seconds of our lives as we worry about the future and ruminate about what's past. "We're living in a world that contributes in a major way to mental fragmentation, disintegration, distraction, decoherence," says Buddhist scholar B. Alan Wallace. We're always doing something, and we allow little time to practice stillness and calm.

When we're at work, we fantasize about being on vacation; on vacation, we worry about the work piling up on our desks. We dwell on intrusive memories of the past or fret about what may or may not happen in the future. We don't appreciate the living present because our "monkey minds," as Buddhists call them, vault from thought to thought like monkeys swinging from tree to tree.

Most of us don't undertake our thoughts in awareness. Rather, our thoughts control us. "Ordinary thoughts course through our mind like a deafening waterfall," writes Jon Kabat-Zinn, the biomedical scientist who introduced meditation into mainstream medicine. In order to feel more in control of our minds and our lives, to find the sense of balance that eludes us, we need to step out of this current, to pause, and, as Kabat-Zinn puts it, to "rest in stillness-to stop doing and focus on just being."

We need to live more in the moment. Living in the moment-also called mindfulness-is a state of active, open, intentional attention on the present. When you become mindful, you realize that you are not your thoughts; you become an observer of your thoughts from moment to moment without judging them. Mindfulness involves being with your thoughts as they are, neither grasping at them nor pushing them away. Instead of letting your life go by without living it, you awaken to experience.
Speakers School with Mikki Williams,
CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, TEDx Speaker











 AMY SANDLER

Professional Speaker, Executive Coach

& Former Director of Speakers Strategy

for Vistage Worldwide
I heard Mikki speak over 5 years ago and she was outstanding. For the past 5 years I have had numerous people tell me if I ever wanted to learn how to become a great speaker, then I had to go see Mikki. People I didn't know told me they had worked with Mikki. Well I finally decided it was the right time for me to go to Mikki's speaker school in Dallas in February 2016. Now I will be the one who can and will tell others you simply have to go see Mikki. She was fantastic and I learned tons, thanks Mikki, it was definitely worth the wait!!!!!

~Randy Nelson

CEO, Gold Dolphins

  Now, more Speakers School than ever!
   

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 See where Mikki will be speaking and piggyback your company or association event. Or just invite her to dinner or shopping!

Click the calendar to view her schedule.
 


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 A TedX SPEAKER and one of the top tier speaker resources for Vistage International, the world's leading executive organization, and honored as their Speaker of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award winner as well as an award winning Master Chair of two of their peer advisory boards in Chicago.

Her company Mikki Williams Unltd. produces Speakers Schools all over the country, a monthly eZine: Hair She Is...! and a blog: Mikki Williams' Blah Blah...Blog. She is sought after as an Executive Speech Coach through her firm Coaching, etc... She also facilitates The Mikki Mouth Club TM, an annual subscription-based presentation skills coaching membership with three distinct divisions...Speaker Source, Accountability Academy and Keynote Kamp TM. 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
Thanks for joining us!

 
 

   Me and "the staff" at Mikki Williams Unltd.: Marissa Pedroza, Director of Everything. When you have a director of everything what else do you need?

 
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