CEO Shares His Bedtime Stories
David Ingram’s book 15 Bedtime Stories That Keep Entrepreneurs Awake at Night hits the shelves tomorrow. David is at the Inc. 500 Conference promoting the book and continuing to learn from other entrepreneurs. Follow his Blog www.15bedtimestories.com for updates from the conference and more great stories!
The book is approachable — partly because David is a great story teller who speaks from experience, and partly because he presents ideas in short, digestible chapters. Perfect for time-starved business-owner!
I am, of course, particularly fond of Chapter 4 “Don’t Isolate Yourself,” in which David shares his experience as a member of the Virginia Council of CEOs. His story is representative. I have had so many members over the years share similar tales of isolation cured by their CEO Roundtable.
Run out and get a copy. You will read it and enjoy it!
What a great idea! I’ll be there.
That’s what I heard today from a Virginia Council of CEOs member who got our invitation to our Social Media Workshop on June 25.
A recent luncheon focused on how businesses can use social media tools to grow. There was so much interest from the CEOs at the meeting who wanted the “how to” information for the major tools (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) that we decided to offer a workshop with lots of time for Q&A. VACEOs member Doug Lucy, CEO of Adlinea, will lead this hands-on-your-laptop workshop for VACEOs members and sponsors
In addition to the basic how-to-use-it questions, we will address:
- Top business-getting features of the major tools
- Making sure you’ve got a strategy for using them, or it will be wasted time.
- An example action plan for using the tools
- Tips on making it work — sticking to it long enough to get results
What a great idea! I’ll be there.
CEOs who Twitter
About one hundred small business CEOs gathered last week for a panel discussion on “Social Media as a Business Tool.” It seems that we caught the wave on this one. The crowd was engaged, attentive, and left the luncheon with action in mind.
The CEOs attentiveness may have been due to Sean Cantrell’s contribution to the panel — sharing his story of social media producing actual revenue for his business, Marshall Mechanical. See his blog post for more.
Since the May 21 luncheon, our private LinkedIn group has grown from 25% participation to nearly 70%. VACEOs on Twitter has leapt from 12 followers to 80, many of them our CEO members.
It has been fun to watch these CEOs, some Gen X and Ys, and many Boomers, actively engage in social networking once they had some information and motivation.
Thanks to Steve Kimball of Tuscan Advisors @EconomyHeroes, David Saunders of Madison+Main @madmain, and Sean Cantrell of Marshall Mechanical @SeanHVAC for a terrific panel discussion at the Virginia Council of CEOs last week!
Rally Round a CEO
Here’s a message I got today from a member whose business has been decimated by the economy. Names have been changed for privacy.
“My roundtable members . . . including the newbies, Sarah and Mike. . . have been a great resource as we work to pull my company out of the pit. Jack Newton corralled everyone a few weeks ago and we all met here . . . Lisa brought in a bunch of sandwiches . . . and they helped me strategize and think with greater clarity about the options I have. That was for a couple of hours in the middle of the week, when I’m sure they had much better things to do. It meant an awful lot, and it was extremely helpful.”
“Just thought you’d like to know that the process really works.”
This is the sort of thing VACEOs members do for each other all the time. What a powerful resource — especially in times of turmoil.
Social Media Blitz
We are blitzing our members with Social Media stuff this month. The quarterly luncheon on May 21 will feature a panel discussion on “Social Media as a Business Tool.”
VACEOs has maybe 20% participation in our private LinkedIn group, a fair number of folks on Facebook, and a handful of bloggers and Tweeters. I anticipate a better informed and connected membership after this month’s program.
Get on board:
Our LINKEDIN group is limited to members and sponsors.
Search Virginia Council of CEOs or go to http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=27275to join.
On TWITTER, anyone can follow VACEOs.
Search for “vaceos” and become a follower.
On FACEBOOK, anyone can become a fan of Virginia Council of CEOs.
Search for Virginia Council of CEOs, and become a fan.
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