3 Lessons to Achieve Authentic Greatness from Steve Jobs

I love to connect people. If I can bring people together and set them on the road to doing some business, then I am a happy girl. Maybe you would like to connect people too, plus make a few good connections for yourself as well, but you’re not sure how to get started? Let’s remedy that hesitation now and de-mystify the referral process so that you, too, will become an expert. Here are a few useful tips that will help you create winning referrals, whether you give or receive. The idea is to do both!
Who To Ask
There are three groups where you can find referral sources—clients, colleagues and friends/family. Good referrals begin with good relationships. Along with providing excellent services that fulfill client expectations, developing and maintaining solid professional and personal relationships is paramount.
Strategic generosity is a trait to develop. Let it help you to make the first move in the referral game. When you initiate referrals, you are likely to receive them in return.
What You Want
Before going off in search of referrals, think about what you’d like to achieve when meeting prospects. Determine which job title is likely to be the hiring decision maker and the usual goals or business challenges that drive the need for your services.
Then you will be clear and precise in your referral requests. Additionally, clarity will help associates to think of you as they themselves network. You and your friends and colleagues can then function as a referral network for one another.
When To Ask
If you’ve worked for a client on two or three projects and have developed a comfortable relationship with your contacts, let them know that you are always looking for new business. Might they be willing to recommend someone with whom you can follow up?
You may not receive an immediate answer, but the seed will be planted. Also, there will be no pressure on the client to give a name if they prefer not to do so. If a referral is made, be sure to get approval for using that person’s name and confirm that if asked, that person feels they know you and your work well enough to provide a good recommendation. This approach also works when seeking referrals through social relationships. Always make it easy and comfortable to refer your services.
Timely Follow Up
While your name is still fresh within the mind of your referral source, make the call or send the email and get the ball rolling. Take action on your referral within one month. Do not let the trail get cold and squander the opportunity. Failure to appropriately follow up on a referral is detrimental to your relationships.
Say Thank You
Remember to thank your referral source ASAP and let your source know the outcome. Even if business is not done, it is wise to let your source know that you appreciate both their generosity and their confidence in you. Referrals are vital to the survival of your business. They are a special favor and should not be taken lightly. This simple courtesy will encourage many good referrals that will help you to grow your client list and your business.

Kim Clark is the founder and principal of Polished Professionals Boston, a business development consulting practice that provides meeting facilitation services to clients in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Kim also provides strategic marketing and branding services, training in the sales process, coaching in the fundamentals of effective networking and teaches business plan development and writing. Learn more about Kim at www.soundimage.com/polishedprofessionalsboston and at
www.linkedin.com/pub/4/547/957. 3 Lessons to Achieve Authentic Greatness from Steve Jobs201263 Lessons to Achieve Authentic Greatness from Steve JobsWhen I’m in the mood for a little inspiration I seek out extraordinary people speak their truth from the heart. These are the thought leaders who fully express their Moxie – the confident courage to achieve authentic greatness with unrelenting drive and passion.In this abundant content driven Web 2.0 age it only takes a few clicks of a mouse to bear witness to their words of wisdom.
After giving up the seemingly impossible battle to overcome something called a kernel panic (who thinks of these names?) on my computer I reached out to YouTube to replenish my soul. I discovered the video of the 2005 Stanford commencement speech given by Steve Jobs. So surprised and moved by what he had to say, I watched the video three times. Here are the three key empowering lessons, reminders of what I sometimes forget when stressed:

Lesson #1: Your intuition knows which path to take. Trust it!
“You have to trust in something–your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever–because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.” – Steve Jobs

Having experienced the ups and downs of the DOT COM industry in my former ‘inauthentic’ career I certainly knew of Steve Jobs as the founder and CEO of Apple Computers and the former chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios before its acquisition by The Walt Disney company in 2006. I knew very little of what influenced his rise to the top. What I learned was another profound example of what it takes to achieve unprecedented success on your own terms.

Steve Jobs was adopted as a baby boy with the condition that his adoptive parents send him to college after he graduated high school. Dutifully obeying this clause Steve went to college. He dropped out after six months, trusting that all would work out OK. He quit so he could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest him and start taking the ones that did. Much of what he stumbled into by following his curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.

Steve took up calligraphy. I had a hard time imagining the Steve Jobs I thought I knew painting elegant doodles on a page. He found calligraphy fascinating because it was “beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture”. That influence was integrated into the design of the Mac ten years later. It was the first computer with beautiful typography.

Lesson #2: Follow your heart. Don’t settle.
“You’ve got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it, and like any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs

Then he got fired from Apple, the company he started, when he turned 30. Steve’s vision for the future didn’t jive with another key executive in the company. After a falling out, Steve got the axe.
So he started other companies including Pixar, the most successful animation studio in the world. If Steve Jobs hadn’t been fired from Apple the world would have never seen “Toy Story”, “Ratatouille”, “Wall-E” and the Academy Award winning “Up”.

Lesson #3: Live authentically.

“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition.” – Steve Jobs
In 2004, Steve was diagnosed with a very rare form of pancreatic cancer. He wasn’t expected to live longer than 3-6 months. As I write this on April 12, 2010 Steve is very much alive, living full out, thanks to an amazingly skilled surgeon. Death, to Steve, is the single best invention in life. As a change agent the prospect of impending death wakes you up to living your own life, not someone else’s. Live each day as if was your last.

After my YouTube diversion I no longer cared about the kernel-thingie that was plaguing my computer. I’ll get it taken care of. I always do. I went out and enjoyed the rest of my day, away from the computer, for that is Not how I would spend my last day on earth. My day was filled with love, laugher and really good wine!

If you’d like to see the commencement speech click here.

Valery is a Moxie Master, Mentor & Coachwho will teach you how to have the confident courage to go after what you REALLY want with unrelenting drive and passion. That’s Moxie! Claim your truth, own your power & command your stage with her unique fast Moxie Therapy process. Get going. Get it done. Moxie Up! today! Get free tips at