Recently my friend Patrick (awesome guy, amazing speaker and he’s kinda a rock star) called me P.T. Barnum… being Australian I had absolutely no clue who that was! Of course I Googled it… like all questions we have for the world, and found he was a business man, showman … and a ring leader of the Ringling Brothers circus and he could be most known for the line “there is a sucker born every minute!’ Apparently Patrick meant the ringleader part (smile).
This July the National Speakers Association is hosting their annual convention in Philly (in my back yard) and Patrick is in charge of hosting the Foundation Dinner (a fund raiser for our industry) and some months ago when he asked me to help organize it or be on the committee (I gracefully declined his kind offer however did promise to help promote it when the time was right).
So the time is right … now! It has become my personal mission to help him SELL out this event. Part of the event involves a ‘roast’ of one of the legends in the speaking industry Scott McKain. Scott is a brilliant speaker and author and I really enjoyed his latest book Create Distinction (do yourself a favor and buy a copy… but another blog on that later).
When I sought the wisdom of Google, Wikipedia and other sources, many define a ring leader as someone who leads others in mischievous (or rebellious) activity… well I guess I have been known for that (smile) however I think this is a good thing too!
It got me thinking … maybe you can’t help organize an event or be on a committee… however you could help someone promote an event using your social media influence or your personal referral or emails?
How could you use your influence, your skills, and your talents and be a ringleader for someone else’s cause? My friend Thom Singer is really good at this with his weekly blog called Cool Things My Friends Do.
How can you influence your industry?
How can you use your voice to engage others?
If you want to accelerate productivity within your community an easy way to do that is choose to be the ringleader for something you believe in (it won’t feel like work and you won’t mind giving it the time it deserves) … go ahead… I dare you.
What are your ideas on how you can be a ringleader for your industry? Share your ideas with us here on our blog.
PS. If you want more ideas on how to increase your productivity – check out other blogs here and several eBooks you can share with your team.
