How to Form Connections with Thought Leaders
AI-Generated Transcript below. There may be errors.
Claire Davis 0:20
Hey, good morning, everybody. And welcome back to another episode in Season one of today's medical sales leader, and today I have none other than Gina Riley with me. Good morning, Gina. It's so good to have you with us.
Gina Riley 0:35
Good morning, I'm caffeinated and ready to go.
Claire Davis 0:39
Excellent. As Gina knows, we could chat all day about just about anything, both of us hailing from the Pacific Northwest, and having been in the industries that we are, but today we want to talk about something a little bit specific, which is embracing your competition, instead of resisting it. And this is something that I learned in my career through some mentorship when I was shadowing, and you know, I have the opportunity to work with a woman named Jen. And she really showed me that when we go into that hospital, and we see our competition in the hallway, we don't duck them, we're not going to, you know, brush the brochures off the table to the floor, which I have seen done on many occasion. But we're going to embrace them as a blue ocean strategy and to get to know people because you never know who you're going to work with again. And the reality is, there is enough business out there for all of us. So Gina, I'm so excited to have you here today to talk more about this because I know this is something that you practice as well. So let me introduce you really quick. And then let's jump on in. I'm ready. Okay. Gina Riley, authority in career transition. At the powerful convergence of career coaching, executive search and interview skill training, she created the career velocity system, which you guys, if you haven't checked this out, it's an incredible program. She helps leaders and executives effectively manage career transition, which I know gets complex for everybody. And certainly when you're at the leadership level. She's an inspirational writer and speaker, one of my favorites, and a certified UMap. Coach, and she's a two time disrupt HR speaker sought after for her inspirational thought leadership on career transition management, professional networking, branding and leadership development. So Gina, what don't you do is my question, what what is it that you haven't covered quite yet for leaders in their careers?
Gina Riley 2:40
Well, the answer would be I partner with amazing people like you to do resume development, which is a part of my program. But as you know, it takes 15 to 20 hours to write a really good resume in some cases. And it allows me to do all the other moving parts of career velocity to keep them moving. And, again, to our point went today with Thought Leadership and bracing, competition, partnering with people to elevate what you provide to your client base is another strategy.
Claire Davis 3:09
Why do you think it is that you know, what is it about competition that really makes us resistant to it? Is it a fear? Tell us more about what you think sort of keeps us from embracing others as part of our strategy and makes us run?
Gina Riley 3:27
I'll talk from my own perspective, because this is the truth. When I first started developing my career coaching program, and doing research and noticing the other coaches on the landscape, who were really like, on the forefront with really great thought leadership. At first, I was nervous about commenting on those posts, or, you know, doing anything related to those people because I thought, well, I'm going to fan their flames and I'm going to detract people from coming to me, they won't hire me because they're going to see that person. And so as I went along, I started to realize these are amazing human beings putting out amazing content one, there's no reason not to fanned the flames, honestly, to when we when we comment on other people's posts who are putting out high quality content and we bother to add to the conversation, then we become part of that thought leadership. You know, awesome sauce cloud that's out there. And guess what, it does attract people to you if you're putting in thoughtful commentary and not just like, way to go, Claire, good. You know, great Podcast, episode exclamation, right? We're just fine. Please do it. If that's all the time you have I like I'll accept that. But if if we can jump on and say, Oh, I listened to the sound bite and this part really stood out to me, that is helping them It helps you it helps the LinkedIn algorithm It feeds what LinkedIn wants to see from us, as a community. So first is the fear of driving business away from us versus attracting people to us. And then I'm going to talk about a second fear. And the the second fear is that the people who are already in those thought leadership roles in your own mind's eye, there's a fear of like, Oh, they're not gonna like me, or they're gonna, they're gonna resist embracing me into the fold. Because with career coaching, as you know, we have a whole amazing community of people. And the more I've allowed myself to let go, and the more expansive my mindset, the more people I have to lean on, and ask for advice, and to reach out to, and they give me their time when I really, really need it. And I do the same for that.
Claire Davis 5:52
That's beautiful way to be. And you know, what, a couple of things that I really liked is that you not only incorporate this into the growth of your business, but you're specifically doing this to grow on LinkedIn. And I think that this is a really interesting piece of it. Because when we're on LinkedIn, and we're doing things in public, there is some credibility factor here as well, when you see someone who's got a great big following, and they're putting out exceptional content. When you engage with those people, it can start to feel a little bit like oh, my gosh, they've already said it all. Like they've done it all. They've already said all the things, what can I possibly bring to the table, but I like what you share. Because when you engage with those people, and you do start putting things out there, and you do start supporting those people, they're going to take notice, and that nobody can do it all by themselves. So tell us a little bit more about maybe some of your favorite creators who you'd have engaged with, and maybe some of your other favorite career coaches who, you know, you you connected with, and started putting this into action.
Gina Riley 7:04
Oh, gosh, there's so many, and I'll leave out people. So please don't get your feelings hurt if you just triggered me in a good way. I just conducted an interview with this amazing woman that I've been following for like five years leek, Cara, her, she wrote a book called millennials in management. And she wrote the boomerang principle. And those books were about, you know, leading generations that are not your own, and how to meet people in the middle and help develop people and foster a culture that people want to come back to, should they leave? Again, I've given these books to some of my senior leaders, because they, you know, oh, it's hard to lead Millennials or fill in the blank. Really great stuff. So I stumbled on one of her podcast called, if you call yourself a thought leader, you're probably not a thought leader. And it was this bold, awesome, 30 minutes of like, it was terrific. So I contacted her I did an interview with her. And I'm publishing that in industry expert magazine in April. What she don't be scared that other people have said these things in the past, because they haven't heard your take on it. And they may not have heard it at all. And they may need to hear it from you right now. Oh, my gosh, yes. Sorry about it. Don't worry about it. And I was just like, oh, we that is like the nugget. I mean, don't be scared that it's been said before, but add your own spin and your own take on it. It's a wait.
Claire Davis 8:43
Yeah, you know, I think that what you're getting at too is that timing is everything. So from a creator standpoint, it's so it's so worth putting your message even if it's been stated before by somebody else in your own voice because people are going to hear it differently. It's going to hit different when it comes from Gina. Right. But I think also that timing is everything. And I have a little bit of a funny story about this. So we and you'll appreciate this being up here in the Pacific Northwest. So yesterday, I found out why you shovel your snow before it gets heavy and wet. Right. And so I hadn't it snowed early in the morning. We got like six, seven inches yesterday. Today. We got snow as well. But don't worry, I've shoveled already. And the whole day went by we were busy having fun. It was a snow day. And so finally I ended up getting out there before we had to go to an appointment at four. And I thought I'll just dip out there and give myself 15 minutes. So 45 minutes of grunt work later. I'm finally clear my driveway. I'm sweating. I had to like throw my coat on the ground. My neighbors are laughing at me because timing is everything. So I appreciate Because I think that it applies to so many areas, not just when you take the time to put your ideas in your own voice, even if they've come from an amazing woman like Lee, or I'm sure she got them from another place and put her spin on them, timings, everything. Because there will be a point in your career, you need to hear that and a point in your career that you hear that, but it doesn't hit because you didn't need it.
Gina Riley 10:25
Right. 100%. And that's people don't need to hear from people like us until they need it, like, oh, I don't need a resume until I need it. Or I don't, I don't need to tell my story until I need it. And then it's kind of gone to the show, you know, trying to tease all of that out. But we also said Another really interesting thing that I've gotten in the article, which is it takes 18 months to really build up that credibility as the thought leader in in those on those topics that you want to be known for. And I thought that was a pretty interesting and compelling thing to put out there. Because I think a lot of people are like, Oh, I'm going to do a post. And then if I build it, they will come well, not on the first go. That's not how it works. You need to be consistent. How consistent? Well, if you're a working professional, and you don't have a lot of time, can you make it a goal to start with? Like once a month, then maybe go to twice a month? Yeah, maybe once a week?
Claire Davis 11:22
Yeah. You just got to set a cadence, right. And I think that sometimes, especially when it comes to posting content, or creating something and putting it out on there. And I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. But for a long time, I felt like I had to have all the answers. And to a degree, I mean, I've been writing resumes since I was 14. So I have a lot of answers on resumes. I've been coaching people through interviews since I was in high school. So I've got a lot to offer. But it's not everything. And it's only from my perspective. So it took me a little while to recognize that I could also highlight the things that I've learned from other people on my content. So I love to share insights that I learned, for example, from you, from Sarah Johnston from Alex or Mozi people who I really consider mentors and who, I don't need to reframe their ideas, but I would love to promote theirs and yours. So do you feel like people are? Is there a season when people should jump in maybe to start using and leveraging the things they learned that have helped them as their own content?
Gina Riley 12:35
I don't I don't advocate a specific season, what I advocate is to sit down first and create a thought leadership plan. Think about what are the topics you want to be known, liked and trusted, when you put it out there, and it and I would also advocate that it's not only your industry, or functional area of expertise, have a side topic, maybe it's your leadership approach. Maybe it's about a whole topic of mentorship, team development. I don't care what it is, but have like two to three topics that you feel comfortable pivoting in and out of and why do we want to do that? Because we don't want to sound like a broken record like Alright, there's Gina talking about data analytics again, you know, you'll never see me do that by the way. But but there's people you ask me about people that I follow or you know maybe I have coaches that I'm you know, interconnected with in you mentioned, you know, some people already, but I point my coaching clients to follow Jennifer Davis, who's a chief marketing officer, and Annie, I'm probably gonna say her name wrong but these women who are in business that put out the best thought leadership, in my opinion, it is in their lines of expertise as business women, it fish, they fanned the flames of other people and highlight them. They promote when they're doing something if they're speaking or if they have an event. And then they also talk about like their charitable causes. They talk they It is incredible what they do. Like Jennifer is an author. So sometimes it's stuff based on her business approach from what she wrote about. So I asked people to follow them because they're doing it right. And they're not career coaches. They're not out there drumming up the kind of business that we might be through our thought leadership. They're literally they're doing what I exactly what I want my clients to do.
Claire Davis 14:38
Yes, I really appreciate that. I'm definitely going to start following Jennifer and Annie also is Jennifer. What was her last name?
Gina Riley 14:44
David Jennifer B. Davis with a bee binder that way Yeah. And you can't miss her because her profile is exceptional.
Claire Davis 14:53
Awesome. So I love it when professionals like them and you fanned the flames. names of other people. I think that's so smart. And I also appreciate how you mentioned that it's not necessarily directly in line with just careers. Because if we're not taking in outside resources, what are we doing? We're just recirculating the same information from our industry. So I'm really that's kind of the, that was kind of the point of this podcast. I know it's today's medical sales leader. But what I really wanted to bring to the table for people was that you've, if you can think outside the box and apply new things, to medical sales that go way beyond what you're going to learn in your corporate training. Because last week, we today actually, we had Chris Bogue, who was talking about video sales strategy, we've had Brandon, who is the expert at all things public speaking, Marcus Chan who makes sales, these like beautiful relatable funnels and systems and now you telling people's careers or so powerfully in using this edification, to grow to help others and then receive that reciprocation in the end? That's the whole point. For me. I feel like if we're all doing the same thing. Yeah, we're all doing the same thing. Do you know what I mean? So like, yeah, point?
Gina Riley 16:13
Yeah. I love what you just said. And what I would add to it is, I take this holistic sort of systems approach to my ecosystem, and what I do to help them my client, my clients, so the content that I'm creating and putting out there ultimately becomes articles for my own people, like helps me not regurgitate the same stuff over and over, even in my coaching calls. I'm like, please read this article about how Jennifer Davis made her career transitions. And her and what you're listening for is leading with your sharp tool and not your swiss army knife. So I can I go and I interview someone like that with this great story on how your next executive role finds you. And so I've got eight of those. But then I find people like Lee Cara, her who I'm like, Oh, she's just smart and bold, and I just had to meet her. And so I'm putting out that thought leadership as she and Kurt the career space. Now she's got a communications company. But then I'll go interview Steve Dalton who wrote the book on, you know, the, to our job search. So finding those people connecting with them, telling them that you admire them. And you know, in a lot of cases, I let those invitations sit, I thank you for connecting Steve or whomever. And then a year or two later, when I have the energy to go read that whole book, really get behind it, understand it, reach out and say I've read your book, would you let me interview you so I can create some content, and I'm fanning their flames. They're thought leadership, and I'm bringing mine along with it.
Claire Davis 17:45
That's awesome. That's such a beautiful way to do business. And to just live, I think there are a lot of different ways that you can fan that flame. I love the way that you describe it that way. So what are some other specific ways that someone who is maybe you know, a medical sales rep or manager, they're kind of new to LinkedIn, they're not necessarily ready to start putting together a posting strategy? What are some, like fanning the flame light things that they can do?
Gina Riley 18:16
Yeah. Gosh, there's, there's so many things that a person can do. Um, one interesting approach that I take with my clients is, I'll look at who is it in their ecosystem they need to be in contact with and where do those people hang out. So it can be industry specific or functional area expertise specific. So if you're a CMO, it could be a marketing type conference, or it might be industry specific if you're in technology, but go and Google where the conferences are happening. Guess where the some of those amazing thought leaders are in the speaker list? They're on panels. They're speaking, reaching out and connecting with those kinds of people saying, Hey, I noticed you're going to speak at this conference in October. I'm attending, I'm looking forward to meeting you. Well, when you go go look them up. Warm, warm that relationship up before you get there. Yeah. And then go start developing relationships. And guess what happens? Claire, sometimes it opens up job opportunities. You don't know, you don't know what you don't know. You got to put the seeds and breadcrumbs into the ecosystem. And I have examples. So in 2000, I think it was 94, the pandemic hit, I went to the career thought leaders symposium in San Diego was my Marines enough. And it was really my first coming out party after developing my program, and I was, I was, I've looked and saw who all the speakers were, and I reached out, Hey, I'm speaking also, I can't wait to meet you and so on and so on. So I get there and now they're already looking for me. They they know I'm coming for them. I'm going to shake their hand or give them a hug. and some of those people now today, many years later, are the people that I'm partnering with, you know, those are the people I am fanning their flames, those are the people I look to, you know, that helps me influence like, when I'm doing with my coaching, it's incredible. Another way to, like, get integrated with other like minded people, as I spoke in the fall it disrupt HR. And there was like, I don't know, 12 of us 12 or 13 of us, all different HR professionals, all very different topics. So my first go to is I immediately reach out to every single one on LinkedIn, hey, we're both speaking to disrupt HR, I can't wait to meet you then have most of the people connecting with me, then I started a group message. Yeah, just to introduce people to each other, hey, we're on the same team. It's, you know, it's going to be challenging. I've done it before. Here's an article I wrote on how to prepare, and then getting like a lot of excitement and camaraderie. So we all get there. And then we're like, so good to meet you. And it feels so much more personal, you know? And then you start developing these cool side relationships.
Claire Davis 21:12
Yes. Do you? Are you a fan of Chase Hughes? Do you know that this is?
Gina Riley 21:17
I don't know, Chase, but it sounds like.
Claire Davis 21:19
So it's not and maybe it's not such a secret. But I love the concept of behavioral engineering, which is basically how do you deeply understand the motivations of why people take action, and trust you and make the decisions that they do? There's all kinds of things and chase us as a CIA, you know, retired off that now, trains on this stuff, and one of the things he talks about is exactly what you have done so naturally, which is, yeah, right, which is being the catalyst to introduce people to each other, like you putting together that chat for those people to get to know each other, and proactively reaching out to introduce them is a huge, huge authority builder. So not only is that warming it up and making people feel more friendly and open to talking with you, but it's like a true psychology science bet science based activity that you're doing. It's behavioral engineering, the ethical way, right.
Gina Riley 22:23
I like being a connector, and um, you know, much of the time it's just social capital. It's not there's no financial gain for me necessarily. Occasionally, maybe those people could become refer errs, you know, if people because they're like, I trust you, I mean, you're, you're doing what you say that you that people should be doing, you know, I'm hopefully leading by example. So I just do it naturally, because I feel like what comes around goes around. And that's that, that attitude of gratitude.
Claire Davis 22:53
Yeah. Why? I know, I feel that when you know, you and I first started talking and the way that I see that you supporting your clients and your colleagues, and when I grew up, my family had a pharmaceutical sales recruiting business. And I remember my parents always saying Claire, businesses mean, okay, like no uncertain terms, because back in the 90s, you know, now I'm dating myself. You're welcome, everybody. Now, you know my age. I definitely grew up wearing stirrup pants and I glitter anyway, we're moving on. So yeah, 100% 100%, child of the 90s. But anyway, so I mean, business was mean. And what they meant by that was not that they didn't love what they did and love their clients. But there wasn't the camaraderie, they're not in recruiting. And there also wasn't the connectivity that we have now, because recruiting was still primarily analog, it was on your phone all day. Binders, and binders and hundreds of binders of alphabetized categorized resumes. So I love the transition, because I think that what you so naturally do with people, is now something that everyone should and can have access to doing, virtually, if not in person to. So if someone was to start by trying something today, to build up that credibility and to reach out to other people to kind of get this reciprocal nature of how business can be going on, what would you recommend they tried today? Oh, gosh,
Gina Riley 24:33
I had known you're gonna tee up that question. I would have pulled up an old article, I wrote it and I have an article like the three habits that can give your career velocity is it's the first article I wrote on LinkedIn, which I was so scared to put out years ago, my very, very first one, and I had a couple people like edit it and look at him like is this gonna be okay? Yeah, and it's just so simple though. And one of the things is like spend just 10 minutes a day on LinkedIn and go make, you know, make genuine comments on people's posts and be a part of the community and stay in your lane. You know, go go comment on things that are relevant to you professionally. You know, if you don't want to see political stuff in your feed, scroll past it, you don't want to give the algorithm any tip of the hand that that's what you want to consume on LinkedIn. So go in the targeted, make comments. And when you see things that are interesting to you, you see an author who's written a book or an article, whatever, reach out, tell them tell them, Hey, I just read your book, Steve Dalton, it blew my mind. And it's going to help me and my clients, thank you for your work, please connect with me. That's it. I don't follow up with any sales pitch, I'm not going to sell anybody. I'm thank you for connecting dots. What happens then Claire right. Now we diversify our professional network on LinkedIn. And we're connected by three degrees of separation. If you're a job seeker at any point in time, now you're more findable by that many more degrees of separation based on their ecosystem. Wow. So you connect with you know, I'm part of a a group called talents group, we do executive search, and I do interview skills training for that. So I tell my clients go connect with all my peers, send them a personalized note, hey, I'm working with Gina, you don't need to like, you don't have to text me or chat with me back just connecting because now, each each of those prongs in the in in the interwebs is now bigger and more expansive. And they're the right professionals. Yeah. Because you know, they're connecting with other executives. Yep. Yeah.
Claire Davis 26:43
Oh, my gosh, wonderful. And definitely something everybody can use today. You guys, if you're not yet, following Gina make it the first thing that you do right now. I can vouch She's an inspiration to me and a huge motivator when it comes to leading business in your career, by doing the things that feel good when the timing is right, by connecting and supporting and lifting up others. We are inter doing that for ourselves and our own career. So Gina, thank you so much for joining me today. And if someone wants to find you and learn more about career velocity, where should they go? That's super easy.
Gina Riley 27:20
You just go to Gina Riley consulting and at the top, there's a green button, you clicked on the green button, and you get a 30 minute webinar and a workbook, check your spam folder. And you can print the workbook and start making your own career transition plan totally for free. No, no strings attached. But other whatever whatsoever. I can't speak. And then the other thing I would add on LinkedIn is when you reach out to connect with people, always send a personalized connection request and tell them why. And here's why. Especially if you have a title that indicates you're a salesperson, everybody's worried they're gonna get a pitch right after the connection. So note to self reach out and say, Hey, I genuinely appreciate your content. And here's the thing that I just saw, would love to connect and follow your work. Have a great day. That's it. I want to follow your work not I'm gonna follow up with a sales pitch. Yep. That is the most effective thing I think people can do.
Claire Davis 28:23
Brilliant. Brilliant. Thank you so much for sharing all that today. I know that if people implement the things that you shared the reaching out the the connecting with a message, the the edifying others, that it is certainly a way for them to unlock some more career velocity. So thank you so much. And I hope you'll come back because maybe we do a 2.0 on exactly how to send those messages so that people don't recoil, but actually invite us to engage.
Gina Riley 28:57
So absolutely. And I think we're excited might be the rocky and Marlowe show, so we'll bring our kitties.
Claire Davis 28:58
Yeah, we'll bring our cats I will not bring the stirrup pants up. And hair. Big here I can do Oh,
Gina Riley 29:09
yeah, I'm product a bat. So that was a lot of hairspray back then. And I feel really sad for the ozone. I don't do that
Claire Davis 29:16
anymore. We're sorry, isn't the we're all getting a better tan in some parts of the world. That's right. Oh, thank you so much, Gina. Have a wonderful day. And until next time, thanks for joining us.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
