Today’s post is part 2 of a three part series on active listening written by Patrick Ewers, an executive coach and founder of Mindmaven. Read up on his tip #1, in case you missed it.
Tip #2: Show them that you’re listening.
If you want to show a person that you’re truly listening to them, you have to keep your mind focused on the responses you’re getting. Be able to make it a game to truly understand what the person is actually saying.
Welcome to Canada!
This week, we’re hoping over the border to take a peek into the lives of four professionals living in Canada. Hailing from Montreal and Toronto, Helen, Suresh, Karine and Anthony are sports-lovers, proud parents, digital marketers and professors.
Helen Adilia Arceyut-Frixione is a content creator and community builder with over 6 years of digital marketing experience. Helen lives in Montreal and has a keen understanding of what content and messaging “spreads,” or sticks to and resonates with people.
Emily Schildt’s got everyone talking about food.
And it’s a pretty powerful conversation. Emily’s interested in food as it relates to personal identity– specifically how the food choices we make are reflections of who we are.
As Emily explains in our interview, the food space is changing–it’s being disrupted–and the future of food is going to depend on the quality of our conversations about it. Enter Bitten. Emily co-founded Bitten with her close friend Naz Riahi to bring together thought-leaders and innovators in the food space and discuss food as it relates to politics, art, culture and the environment.
Read on to learn how Emily’s perspective on eating shifted from vanity-driven to pleasure-seeking, why she encourages other founders to find a great partner and how she embraces awkward moments that push her out of her comfort zone and allow her to truly excel.
Interested in startup life, venture capital or entrepreneurship? If so, join entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author Brad Feld for #aboutmeLIVE.
Brad is a Managing Director at Foundry Group, a venture capital firm focused on investing in early stage information technology startups like Makerbot, Fitbit, and Zynga. He’s the author of multiple books including Startup Communities and you can read his writing at Feld Thoughts.
If that’s not impressive enough, Brad is a also long-distance runner and has completed 24 marathons.
Today’s post is part 1 of a three part series on active listening written by our friend, Patrick Ewers. Check out Tip #2 here and tip #3 here. Patrick is an executive coach and founder of Mindmaven. You can find him on Twitter @PatrickEwers.
One of the biggest technology-driven problems I see in this society is that our minds are evolving in a way that makes them trained to be exceptionally receptive to interruptions and distracting signals. Our brains become proficient in changing the subject, adjusting what we’re looking at or how we’re perceiving something simply because we hear a notification sound on our phone.
The scary part is that it doesn’t take very long for your brain to make this switch. Very often, in just five seconds we can lose interest in one thing and move onto the next. Disruptions are so prevalent, that you might not even notice it happening. With all of these interruptions, it becomes a real challenge to rewire your brain to hold its focus on one topic.
Since 2013, Charlotte Dupont hasn’t gone a day without taking a photo.
Charlotte’s taking her passion for photography to our Instagram this week where she’ll share snapshots of a day in her life as a content creator and health coach.
Charlotte is a California native currently living in Portland who plans to embark on a journey as a digital nomad traveling to countries across the globe. Read on to hear Charlotte’s advice on becoming active in the Instagram community and how photography allows her to create something beautiful every day.
As a community manager at about.me, I love using our site to connect with other community managers around the world. Our Staff Picks this week truly understand people and are experts in connecting with and engaging their communities. From social media curation to web development to photography, Sahana, Philippe, Amy and Aaron create powerful visual and written content that moves people.
Sahana Ullagaddi who heads off this post is a skilled content developer and marketing engagement strategist. Sahana embeds her blog on her page, connecting people to her reflections on meditation, self-enrichment and her journey from living in 5 cities in 5 years to ending up in San Francisco.
Christian Sommer isn’t afraid of chaos.
Why? Because chaos gives him the opportunity to do his magic. Christian’s magic is brand building and he sources his inspiration from architecture, art, film and music. Christian’s led branding strategy for companies such as Voodoo Energy, an all-natural energy drink that encourages people to form happy moments with friends.
Christian also teaches courses on branding where he emphasizes the importance of stimulating his students and keeping them engaged. Read more about Christian’s life in Denmark including how he stays openminded, what he thinks makes for great marketing and who Christian’s connected to through his page.
Griffin Sinn knows a great opportunity when he sees one.
When Griffin saw people covering their bike seats with plastic bags, he knew there had to be an easier way to stay dry. Protecting bike seats from the rain became his mission and from this the CLOAK’d Saddle Bag was born.
Griffin launched the CLOAK’d Saddle Bag on Kickstarter to turn his idea into a reality. Griffin is currently raising money on Kickstarter with the hopes of getting his product on the market. Griffin sat down with us to share his story, including the most unexpected challenge he’s encountered when promoting CLOAK’d, why he loves travel and entrepreneurship, and where he sees himself in 10 years.
Rachel Ryle has set Instagram on fire.
With over 500,000 followers, this extraordinarily talented illustrator, animator and storyteller is winning and in demand.
The Boulder-based artist is so much in demand that she was number one on Buzzfeed’s most creative Instagram accounts, MTV says she’s changing the way we see the world and she’s working with top brands like Starbucks to help them connect deeper with their customers.
