Explore Inspire Invigorate

WinSpin CIC, Inc. Creative Intelligence Consulting

Marilynn Deane Mendell
President
Win Spin CIC, Inc.

Use time as a means to transform. Ultimately the best business development leaders choose the path of personal growth and investigation. Becoming open to a diverse compliment of interests promotes an ability to communicate with multiple types of individuals from all kinds of backgrounds who have their own myriad of interests. This talent of life learning can be honed with very little effort and research has shown that it can be anyone of average intelligence who by doing so can reach top positions in firms. It takes discipline to sit down and read books or to make weekend jaunts to places that can open a world of new ideas or stimulate the imagination. Household chores need tending, gardens must be maintained, and food has to be prepared...and the exercise of improving and broadening skills outside of a particular professional realm will be worth every single minute spent on acquiring new knowledge.

Sure we can get sound bites from Twitter or Facebook to stay current and The New Yorker long reads can help add to that, but the real punch comes from getting away -- or shall I say, going to. Immersing oneself in art, nature, history, technology or just a lowrisk adventure does something so ethereal that the intrinsic value really can't be measured-- it has to be experienced.

What do I mean? Well, in order to go East to see a client in New York on a Monday, I left DC on a Friday and drove West and visited both FallingWater and Kentuck Knob. Then I meandered over to Brandywine River Museum and saw the Wyeth Retrospective and while in the area, I wandered through Longwood Gardens. After client meetings, I toured the Cloisters, and then took in a great day at Storm King. That was one weekend. I listened to books on tape as I drove and learned interesting ways to become a better leader and I spent a quiet hour or so doing watercolors.

How will that help my business? Or Yours? This fall, when I attend all of the dinners and cocktail parties and seminars, I'll have something new and exciting to add to the conversation besides the weather or politics or which beach I visited. By exploring new places I rejuvenated that bravery piece of me that sometimes wants to hide behind the more comfortable side. Courage needs to be nudged every once in a while or it begins to fade. Creativity likes to be allowed to jiggle around in your brain and spurt out new ideas. Recent research explains how daydreaming and nature walks push those thoughts forward. Another important aspect of this quest was capturing trends. What are people wearing? What ads and graphics excite me? What's being built? What am I seeing beyond my desk and computer? How can these things inspire my team or help my clients? Sometimes you have to see what the other guy is doing? While the Phipps Botanical Gardens and Conservatory has been a great client for 18 years, I still want to see how other gardens greet their guests, or what kinds of signage they utilize, or what they have in their gift shop. The trip to Storm King helped me understand the enormity of my client Oehme van Sweden's just finished Tippet Rise in Montana with its 10,000 acres compared to the 500 at Storm King. Now I'm off to Montana! It's like that. It also shows my clients that I care beyond just showing up for work. That I'm curious too. And it gave me a wealth of things to Tweet about along the way and now I'm using it for this newsletter. Maybe one of you will be inspired to take a similar trip. I hope so.

The point is, one has to invest and expand in order to gain.

Thank you,

PS: There's one more thing. Please buy memberships at these places when you visit. If you don't need one, then sign up in your children's name or a friend's or just donate. In today's world they need all of the help they can get. Thanks!!!!

(I have a client who thinks if I add !!! to my thank you--they will mean more.)

AIA Design DC 2017

Growth Strategy Beyond the Cliff:

Rebound During Hard Times or Just Get Better at Running a Business

Tuesday, October 3, 10:15am-11:45am

at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center

Tough lessons learned for entrepreneurs to pull out of dead zones, end zones and no zones. Bite the bullet on topics ranging from reality checks on budgets, management styles to prevent constant employee turnovers, loss of market share due to shrinking violet marketing mentality and more. You want the truth about how to succeed-change the way you're currently doing business. It is all about you.

Lessons to Be Learned:

1. Buck up and change your behavior for hiring, reviews, and treatment of employees to keep them around for more than a few years. Bring your workout clothes.

2. Make room for spending money on direct overhead. The old adage you have to spend money to make money holds true - come away with reasons to fortify you when you want to run in the opposite direction.

3. How to listen to advice. What to throw out and what to hang onto for dear life. Nothing is new. It's your persistence and resilience that will get you the results you wish for and more.

4. Leave with a multitude of references to continue building a habit. Gain insight on why being a life learner will enable you to be the best manager and successful entrepreneur.

AIA Rochester, New York

To Market Your Firm -- Market Yourself

October 18, 2017 4:00 -5:30pm

Improving how you interact with clients, follow trends, stay informed, collect data and get organized, practice ethical leadership, and improve etiquette skills directly influences personal and firm success.

World Economic Forum: Want to Live Longer? Read a Book

Here's a Book to Inspire Your Next Adventure

I bought this book at the Kentuck Knob bookstore and just finished it. It seems there's a theme going here.... I've been an avid journalist my whole life. People like Thomas Jefferson have always inspired me to keep copious amounts of detailed records of my garden and what I see when I travel. I am a consummate collector as well and my journals are filled with ticket stubs, soap wrappers, and lots of watercolors.

This book has moved up to top place for the best book I've read in ages. I'm adding a glimpse of the types of explorers covered and a few pages of their records and a list of a few of the many great and brave people, who without their records and determination we wouldn't have seen or even known about everything from foriegn lands, plants, cultures, hardships, and more. Enjoy!