It Takes a Village, But It Starts with You

 

One must have strength of character, vision, and the ability to persuade others to be seen as a leader. Whether you're a rising star or managing future stars around you, a true leader has the ability to elevate their impact by understanding how to turn perceived weaknesses into strengths, career obstacles into stepping stones, and challenges into leadership triumphs!

The role of a marketer or business developer in the professional services industry doesn’t always start at the top. Many have worked their way up over the years and have achieved success and many accolades. But, they aren’t always viewed as valuable contributors to the overall business process and over time, become more focused on deliverables than strategies.

Anyone can be a great leader, and sometimes, the only person stopping you from achieving that goal is yourself. The path to leadership is not a step-by-step checklist that can be followed like assembling furniture from Ikea, it is a journey of strength, intelligence, and empowerment. If you want others to value your input, you need to communicate with your own personal style and conviction, so that people can’t help but follow you and look to you for leadership.

Learning Objectives:

1. Get coached on how to speak with authority, believability, and accountability (along with attentive listening skills) in an effort to strengthen overall communication abilities. These techniques will help to increase personal credibility, integrity, and better overall collaboration skills.
2. Access examples of how to redirect expectations, implement time management techniques, and effectively direct and manage team members, so they will have the time and energy to lead by example.
3. Learn instructions for a usable tracking document to set milestones for long-term success to determine what actions should be added, adjusted, or in some cases, abandoned. As they achieve success, attendees will be inspired to coach those around them to do the same.

 

Our Presenters:

Hildegard Dodd

Marketing Manager, Wilson Ihrig, Emeryville, California

Hildegard Dodd is a marketing, communications and business development professional with more than 17 years' experience with A/E/C firms. Her work in the industry has ranged from overseeing the strategic direction of business development goals, to leading marketing initiatives and pursuits, to fine-tuning a firm’s external message and brand. Throughout her career, her overall goal has remained the same: to successfully direct the various components of any marketing or business development effort, while working seamlessly with technical staff in an effort to win work and build long-term client relationships. She is been a long-time SMPS member, past SMPS Build Business Speaker, and Marketing Manager for Wilson Ihrig; an acoustics, noise and vibration engineering firm headquartered in California with branch offices in New York and Washington.

 

Veda N. Solomon

President, Veda Solomon Consulting, Redondo Beach, California

Veda began her many years in the industry in New York City as a marketing coordinator for a regional architect, and climbed the ladder to marketing manager, director, and consultant for A/E and C firms through an 18 year career on the East Coast. During that time, Veda served as president and board member for SMPS New York, being honored with a Lifetime Achievement award in 2004, and serving as Co-Chair of the first Build Business Conference in Manhattan. Change precipitated the move to Los Angeles in 2004 where Veda joined the SMPS-LA Board and served as President in 2011/2012. She is the president of her own firm: Veda Solomon Consulting, Inc. (VSC) serving numerous clients with her expertise in Business Development planning and coaching, Interview and Personal Coaching and Social Marketing advice. Her motto is "Inspire Others." Veda's featured speaker portfolio includes Language For Leaders Workshop, (Build Business 2009), Creating A Successful Collaboration Plan With Your Technical Staff with Hildegard Dodd (Build Business 2011) and various seminars tailored to her clients needs.

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