Holidays 2013: A Time for Kindness and Patience

Eric Beckman, Barnes & Conti President

Here we are again nearing the close of another year on the calendar. This is the season of constant reminders to be grateful, generous, kind, thoughtful, and happy. We are truly grateful here at Barnes & Conti to all our friends, family, colleagues, clients, and customers for a year of renewed activity and growth.

The new year approaches, and many people are optimistic about where 2014 will take us. While some people are still suffering the impact of global economic troubles from the last few years, the situation is much improved. In fact, opportunities for the future are becoming brighter and more abundant. Here at Barnes & Conti, we are looking forward to a great new year, and we sincerely wish the same to all of you!

With the holidays fast approaching, much of the post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy has settled into the pre-Christmas anxiety of holiday expectations. For some of us, those expectations can lead to disappointment, not to mention frustration at the larger crowds, longer lines, and more confused people at both airports and shopping malls. In the midst of all this, each and every one us can be an “agent for positive change,” so to speak, simply by putting a little extra effort to be kind to others and attempt patience at every opportunity.

Remember to smile in the face of adversity; you can transform both yourself and others in the process. Try to look at your situation from an experience perspective; seek the humor that might be found if you were observing yourself as if your were watching someone else. Remember, some of your most frustrating experiences can become fodder for your funniest stories, just keep the perspective in mind.

You can also ask yourself: “What can I learn from each situation?” While it may seem silly, visualize yourself being able to bestow a good day on others through a small action, like a little wave of your hand, is an act of kindness that can actually improve your own mood and outlook.

From all of us at Barnes & Conti to all of you: Happy Holidays and our best wishes for a fantastic 2014!

Our Holiday Gift to You: Collected Pearls of Wisdom from Kim Barnes

During the past few months, we’ve offered several great articles and excerpts from our reference library to our social media community—basically, to anyone who could find us on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and would register. We are pleased to be able to offer all five articles/excerpts to all of our loyal newsletter readers.

The articles are:

• “Talking Straight: Helping Others to Handle Difficult Feedback”
  Need to communicate difficult messages? This article has a ten-step template for delivering the bad news. You will also acquire a two-step plan for “straight talk” and understand why it will benefit you to think like the receiver in the conversation.
  
• “What Kills Innovation?
  Your role as a leader in supporting an innovative culture”
  Co-authored with innovation expert, Nelson Soken, Ph.D., this article discusses the importance of innovation and why executives are not seeing the hoped for results. It also identifies eleven barriers to establishing an innovation-friendly culture and helps you apply eight successful approaches to building a culture of innovation.
  
• Exercising Influence: A Guide for Making Things Happen at Work, at Home, and in Your Community (Chapter 1)
  Kim Barnes’ first book on one of her favorite topics. The first chapter will familiarize you with everyday influence scenarios and make a case that influence is more effective than communication.
  
• Consulting on the Inside: A Practical Guide for Internal Consultants
  (Chapter 1)
  This book, co-authored with Beverly Scott, was written to help internal consultants understand their role as agents of positive change in an organization. The first chapter clarifies the distinction between internal and external consultants and helps internal consultants to recognize opportunities for making a difference.
  
• “The Influential Internal Consultant”
  This article not only presents an effective eight-phase internal consulting model, it teaches the Exercising Influence framework and helps you apply different influence approaches to different phases of consulting.

Use this link to download the entire collection of articles.

Reminders as Resolutions

Lauren Powers, Senior Vice President, Business Development

When I consider New Year’s resolutions, I like to think of them more in terms of reminders. After all, there are certain ongoing behaviors that I have been aware of for quite some time, which need to be regularly kept in check. These seemingly natural inclinations can dog me and create significant difficulties, particularly in stressful times when they come out in full regalia. While I have a general awareness of when they come into play, it is usually after the fact when I have a chance to dissect what went wrong and reflect on how to improve.

As a result, I try to keep my “reminders” in front of me and be aware of my tendencies. It is the seemingly simple ones that stick and ultimately trigger changes in behavior. In fact, the simpler they are, the better they are for me. The straightforward ones usually represent an opportunity for a significant pivot to more productive behaviors.

I wanted to share a few of my ongoing reminders that will carry me into 2014:

1. Remind myself to shut up and listen
2. Refrain from judging others, rather seek to understand
3. When inclined to say “NO,” say “perhaps, we can find a way to make it work”
4. Stop “harping on others” by repeating myself. Instead check to see if what I have said is understood and leave it be—the less said, the better
5. Offer fewer statements of opinion and more questions of inquiry
6. Look for what’s going right, not what’s wrong; build on what’s right
7. And finally, know that it is not about being right—it is all about influence and getting others to collaborate

What are your “simple reminders”? Perhaps, we can all share them as we reflect on our 2014 resolutions.

Have a Happy New Year and a productive and peaceful 2014!

Barnes & Conti at Training 2014 in San Diego

Say goodbye to the cold and visit us at the Training 2014 Conference and Expo in the heart of sunny San Diego.

We will be at booth #308; please stop by to say “hello” and enter our drawing for a new Fitbit.

If you are interested in increasing your knowledge or networking in the following areas, then this conference is for you!

Sign up today using this link

Just for Fun:
From the Internal Consultant

Try to be unusually kind and compassionate to all those around you during the Holidays: you never who will end up being your Secret Santa!

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For more valuable information and special offers, follow us!

In this Issue:

• “Holidays 2013: A Time for Kindness and Patience,” by Eric Beckman
• Our Holiday Gift to You: Articles and Excerpts by Kim Barnes
• “Reminders as Resolutions,” by Lauren Powers
• Barnes & Conti at Training 2014
• Recipe: Miso-Glazed Sea Bass, from Kim Barnes
• Featured Art (above): “Winter Landscape with Skaters and Bird Trap,“ by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Special 2014 Public Program Offer:

Buy one program, get the second one for half off!

Register Now!

The first half of 2014 is focused on helping you increase your influence and internal consulting skills. So, per your request, we are offering both workshops back to back so that you can maximize your skills. Sign up today!

Exercising Influence

• February 25, 2014
  Philadelphia, PA
• March 6, 2014
  Berkeley, CA

Consulting on the Inside

• February 26, 2014
  Philadelphia, PA
• March 7, 2014
  Berkeley, CA

The cost of these one-day programs is $725.

Did you miss our Virtual Feast?

Not to worry! Follow this link to the 2013 collection of recipes from Barnes & Conti

Below is one more recipe to add to the feast.

Recipe: Miso-Glazed Sea Bass

Did you miss our virtual feast last month? Here’s a dish appropriate for any festive holiday gathering! This recipe yields a sweet, savory, melt in your mouth fillet. If you can’t find sea bass, but can get black cod (also called sable), use it! It will be just as good.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sake
• 1/3 cup mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup miso paste
• 4 (4 ounce) fillets fresh sea bass, skinned, about 1 inch thick
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onion

Method:

1. Whisk together the sake, mirin, soy sauce, brown sugar, and miso paste in a bowl to make the marinade. Place the sea bass in a large sealable plastic bag and pour the marinade over the sea bass. Chill in refrigerator 3 to 6 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Remove fish from marinade and season with salt and pepper.
4. Cook marinade down until it is thick.
5. In ovenproof pan, add 1 oz. oil and sear fish on one side if skinned. Turn over and glaze top with marinade.
6. Bake 12 – 15 minutes. Allow to rest.
7. Serve topped with chopped green onions.

Serves 4.

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