Isolation, disconnection, superficiality. We know the challenges. It's why we also instinctively recognize the good news -- that in today's world, connecting with others is a vital currency. And anyone can improve.
In this episode of #ThoughtLeaderConversations, V2's Head of Strategy Roger Courville, CSP connects with the brilliant Lou Diamond, CSP, Founder and CEO of Thrive LouD. Along the way you'll learn how to create meaningful connections, have impactful conversations, and even leverage digital media.
Along the way you'll take away
Understand the importance of making authentic connections and the impact it has on personal and professional relationships.
Techniques for having engaging and impactful conversations, emphasizing the importance of being present and curious.
How empathy can be balanced with making tough decisions as a leader, ensuring that decisions benefit the entire organization.
Insights into maintaining interpersonal connections through digital mediums, including tips on focusing and being authentic online.
The power of storytelling in communication and learn how to make your stories relevant and engaging for your audience.
The importance of brevity and respecting others' time during conversations, ensuring that interactions are efficient and valued. Tactics for using podcasts to enhance business connections, internal communication, and personal branding.
And more!
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Series: #ThoughtLeaderConversations
Sponsor: V2, LLC, expert virtual and hybrid event production, www.VirtualVenues.com
Host: Roger Courville, CSP, https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogerc/
Keywords: #B2B #B2BMarketing #connecting #howtoconnect #artofconnection #podcasting #storytelling #conversations
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UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Roger Courville, CSP: Why exactly is connecting the vital currency fueling today's economy? Hello and welcome to the Art of Connecting. My name is Roger Courville and welcome to another episode of Thought Leader Conversations, sponsored by the crew here at Virtual Venues, where you can instantly scale your virtual and hybrid event production team with a crew that helps you focus on something other than tech and logistics.
But we're not here to talk about us because I'm to the virtual stage, Lou Diamond. founder and CEO of Thrive Loud, a full service production, uh, company for podcasts, helping you connect and strategize, monetize, and launch your program out into the world. He's a speaker and a consultant and a best selling author of multiple books, including Master the Art of Connecting and Speakeasy and a co founder.
We'll talk about this a little bit later. Co founder of the Connected Leaders Club. Lou, I'm glad you're here. Tell us a little more about who you are and what you do.
[00:00:57] Lou Diamond, CSP: Hey, Roger, thanks. First of all, thanks for having me. I love always getting to be on the other side of the microphone when it comes to these conversations.
And, uh, you know, like, I love to summarize things. I think I was put on this planet to help people better connect. And when I did that in all different walks of life, um, I've been in professional services at working for large consulting firms. I worked on wall street, uh, for many, many years. And as a leadership, a sales and leadership coach, I've really been diving into that power of connection.
And then I kind of decoded something. And what I decoded Roger was something that I think we take for granted, but we never really looked into it. I want to understand where does every connection in our lives begin. We all know what a connection feels like, or you and I are trying to establish one right now, and we've had ones over the years, and when you really double click down and you drill into it, Every single conversation in our lives begins with a good conversation.
I'm even going back to when we were little babies and we didn't even know how to verbally do it when our, you know, when Googie Gaga was coming out of our mouths and Q Tooth conversations. We were connecting with our, with our moms, with our dads, with our family at that little level through the conversations.
The first friends we've made, uh, the, the socialization skills we learned. with elders, with teachers, with classmates, with growing up friends, with eventually people we met in college, all of the ways that we connect starts with a good conversation. But Roger, here's the, here's the hitch. Not everyone has a good conversation.
Not every conversation is great. And what I've been spending my entire career on is to help people understand how they can have great conversations. And it's not necessarily what they need to say or do. It's actually how you need to be. I call it the, the speakeasy way of connecting to connect with every conversation.
And it has been my passion. It's what I exemplify through podcasting. It's what I exemplify as a guest on shows like this. It's what I do with great companies and their leaders and their salespeople and their marketers to help them better connect. It is helping them understand the way they need to be every single time so they can take advantage of this incredible gift that we are having right now, Roger.
Having a great conversation.
[00:03:20] Roger Courville, CSP: You even use that, uh, I forget where it was on your website or something, but you even use that, uh, word gift. Every conversation is a gift and I loved that. So just out of curiosity. Why are people sometimes unaware of maybe the importance and the power of making a connection?
[00:03:40] Lou Diamond, CSP: Connections are bringing two worlds together, Roger. It's, you've got your world here and the person or group or company organization you want to connect with is over here. And when we try to bring those worlds together, maybe go meet them, maybe reach out to them, the worlds kind of come together like this.
But a connection is not this. This is like networking or, you know, having a really good relationship or, or, you know, really good friends, if you would, but, you know, tangential friends. But when the worlds come together and they overlap where you get into someone else's world and they get to see into yours, things are exchanged.
We start to appreciate, we start to open up a little bit more, and we are more empathetic. The reason that most people aren't making those great connections or why they're overlooking it is because they are not willing or not thinking of letting people in or even more so letting themselves open up to connect with others.
There's some limitation, there's some something holding them back, or they don't understand that when you make that connection you actually make your own world. bigger, broader, more, more in tuned, more up to date, more knowledgeable to what you can have. They don't know all the benefits of what happens when you make a connection and they're taking it for granted.
And yes, there are billions of people on this earth right now. We have an unbelievable gift going on. Roger, you and I have the ability to make a connection. To have a conversation, to talk about this stuff, ideas are going to be exchanged. Um, our, our worlds are going to try to overlap and come together.
And that is such an unbelievable gift because we don't always have the opportunity and time to do it. Billions of people doing billions of different things that appreciate the moment in that part of it, which is part of how you need to be in every conversation is part of the reason why it isn't happening every day and why people are overlooking it.
[00:05:31] Roger Courville, CSP: In your opening little statement, you mentioned talking about, about connection, maybe beginning with, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but beginning with, How you are right rather than a tactic or a technique, and I'm sure we'll get to some, some tips and tricks along the way here, but talk about that.
And I'll share with you why I find this curious. It actually relates to some of my doctoral work, um, which touches down with attachment theory. And one of the things that I discovered along the way is this field called narrative psychology, where, where even youngsters like infants and toddlers begin to notice Say the, the pattern of story, even before they even understand all the elements of the story, right?
And, uh, I just, I just thought it was kind of curious about how you even said, that's what, that's what we're created to do from, from our earliest days. Talk about this context of being.
[00:06:33] Lou Diamond, CSP: Yeah, it is. It's at the heart of all of it, right? Um, let's talk about what being what to be really means, right? It it's a sense of being present.
Let's be honest in the moment when you're there and it's how you need to react How you need to absorb how you need to take in the information you are in the moment and a lot of times We don't know the ways we need to be, and we can control those things. We can actually work and coach and develop the ways we need to be in that specific moment.
One of the ways you need to be is a, to give an example for this is, just as you are being right now, you need to be curious. Which is, to connect with somebody, curious is broken into two different components if you drill it down. Curiosity is achieved by asking and listening. for listening. So you need to be asking and listening when you're having a conversation with someone, as opposed to talking and telling, right?
Think about when we were young, Roger, uh, teachers would tell us certain things, uh, doctors would tell us stuff, information we would know, and we would accept it as fact. And, by the way, in many instances, that's a great communication tool. It's a direct way to communicate, we're talking and telling about something, and that is how we can absorb information.
Yet it is not always the most impactful and effective way to communicate. Case in point, years ago when I told my children to clean their room, I did not necessarily get the reaction or the result I was looking for, Roger. And we would tell them over and over again, you need to clean your room, you need to do this.
At some point or another, the talking and telling In the way that we're doing it is becoming noise and is being ignored and our room isn't getting clean or the room that they need to live, that they're living in needs to be clean. But let's come from a different place of asking and listening. Well, let's ask someone a question versus so your grandparents are coming over, I would say to my son, what do you think they would think of if they saw your room?
Let's get their reaction to this. And by the way, this reaction is actually like, oh my goodness. Well, if you are asking me a question, I'm going to have to respond by telling somebody you don't have to. I'm going to even connect with my child at the moment that I'm having this conversation because I am conscious about exactly the curiosity that they're stepping into.
I am being curious and they are being curious in the way they can receive it. That curiosity is a name, is a much more impactful way of doing things, coming from asking and listening. Think about how receptive we are when we embrace curiosity. What happens? We ask questions. We listen more intently. We care more about the person's response than we do about our own.
A very empathetic way of being that will bring people into our world. I apologize if there's loud buzzing. All good. Okay. Anyway, so being curious is the first way we need to be. We have to embrace curiosity. We have to step into being open. We have to be willing to listen and not talk. We have to ask questions and listen to those responses.
Before just talking and telling and spewing necessarily what we think we have to be coach like, which is being curious, which is what great coaches do. And I believe that at the starting point, that is one of the ways you need to be. There's many others, but this is a good way of starting that a way to connect.
is tapping into the way we need to be when we're curious. Like when we're little kids asking those questions about the stories. What happens next? What is the mystery there? Your narrative example is beautiful, because when we're listening to a story, we are trying to imagine where things are going. When we are asking great questions and being curious, we are tapping into how Those answers might respond to how we can connect with that other end.
That's where curiosity and way of being is a starting point on connecting in every conversation.
[00:10:28] Roger Courville, CSP: I love that you use the word empathy. Let's drill a little more into that. In fact, particularly maybe since you, uh, you just started this connected leaders club, how can leaders balance maybe empathy with the need to make tough decisions that may not always be popular or well received?
[00:10:51] Lou Diamond, CSP: Yeah. Well, let's talk about even the way you just asked that question. Um, when we lead, what are we telling people what to do? Or are we empowering them by asking and listening to what needs to be done? Great leaders actually understand that sense of empathy across their organization, across their clients, across their shareholders.
And a good leader is able to balance and take in this level of information and understanding the different needs of others, including the need of oneself. When you have very egocentric related leaders in the past, um, the many bad things necessarily happen and they're not always incorporating the best of everything else.
But a great leader is actually thinking about the entire organization and what needs to be done, which will move forward versus just one person's opinion or a way they think it should be done. And it is important to understand that as a leader, Decisions can be made in an empathetic way. You can still prioritize certain things that need to get done, but can we do it on the sense of how it's going to benefit everybody else?
And I think that isn't that different than making a decision that you think is best for the bottom line, the dollars or tough decisions. Uh, when, when you're letting somebody go in an organization as a leader, and by the way, it could be a headcount related issue or whatever. I mean, it could be a personality issue, may not be the right fit.
I always think about like, We're giving that other person a gift and opportunity to step into something. If that person isn't the right fit, you are constantly looking at the best fit for the organization. And by the way, sometimes you're empowering those people to grow so they can be part of another organization who you have a connection with in life or in business that potentially could be a business partner, new business down the road, um, a relationship that will help grow, finding the right people.
There are so many opportunities where. It can't just be the world that we're living in. We are in a much larger business community at work. So being connected and empathetic to everyone every single day as a leader is an important trait of what we call it, the Connected Leader Club, the Connected Leader, and the things that you need to succeed in today's world.
[00:13:05] Roger Courville, CSP: Speaking of today's world, given that almost all of us live some form of life that is extended digitally, where and how do you take this interpersonal connection and begin to adjust it based on the medium through which you're connecting?
[00:13:24] Lou Diamond, CSP: Phenomenal point. Great question. Let's take it into two parts. One part is your personal brand as a connected leader.
I'm going to bring that up second and the other part has to do with dealing with the mediums and the way you need to be to have the connected relationship you need across these digital mediums. Uh, the amazing and legendary Oprah Winfrey was better than this than everybody else. Oprah knew that when she looked through into a camera, she needed to tap into the soul of the viewer that was all the way on the other side.
There was a level of intensity, or as I like to say it, a way of being focused. In every conversation with who she was speaking with, she knew she was drilling through that camera through the skyways or cable lines and into the homes into the ears, eyes and ears of the people that would connect with her.
It, it could, it needed to be focused, it needed to be concentrated, and it needed to be pretty intense, by the way, because you had to penetrate through many different mediums, and I recognize that that took attention and being focused. Something so vital like we're doing right now. All my other apps are closed.
The only one on my screen, uh, listeners and viewers is Roger. I am checking him out one to one because I want to be focused and give him and you, the listener, that level of attention that you deserve. That is a level of respect. And that is part of my brand as a connected leader that I want to empathize every time I communicate.
So it is being focused. It's being drilled in. It's, I can't. Avoid all the distractions, like the little messages that are coming up on my phone or the text messages beeping on my thing. I try to zone them out. They're very difficult, but if we focus in, we're, we're very concentrated in our conversation.
That is one way that we can. Now let's go to what I was talking about on the other side of our personal brand and the digital medium. I've been emphasizing this. I've been working virtually way before the pandemic, uh, 2016, 2017. I was giving, you know, virtual lectures and communicating and obviously hosting podcasts remotely.
So I've always been in that environment and recognize that energy piece, which is required to connect. But the personal brand has to come through too. You have to represent yourself, you have to look on camera, I'm always on camera, I kind of always wear a certain look each time, and this is how I am. If you were to see me in person, and you saw me digitally, they would match up.
Because our digital and personal brand's footprint, or fingerprint, if you would, of where we are is how people connect with us when they're not with us. So they see this certain image, they have a certain level of expectation. This is hard to live up to, by the way, but it's also a really authentic version.
The version that you see right now, this high energy, loud talking, talking with his hands, focused and looking at you, this is me. When you meet me in person, this is me every single day. This is me on stage. This is me doing a podcast interview. I am always like this. And that is my authentic version of who I am.
Another key component of connecting is being you, be you in the moment when you need to be. So make sure the brand that you want to represent, I mean, look at the background of Roger's video here. This is very much who he is. This is a lot of the stuff that. Who I am behind me sort of organized and messy, but you know, very behind me and very messy in front is really what you would say.
But I always want people to know that this is the brand that they get where they have it. So today. That personal brand and focusing that energy is something that you need to do in all the mediums you communicate with and it'll carry over just make sure you're consistent. You need to be a little extra focused, um, in the zoom digital, not in the same room because make it clear when we're together in the room, we all know that that's nothing replaces that.
There's human energy, there's interaction, there's other side conversations that can happen. So you have to be that much more impactful when you're not in person.
[00:17:04] Roger Courville, CSP: Talk to me about storytelling. In fact, if a potential client even just rings you up on the horn and wants to know a little more about you and how you even approach that, what question should they ask you?
[00:17:20] Lou Diamond, CSP: If they wanted to ask me a question that would get me into a story, if they're looking to try to figure out ways on how they can better connect or that they can be more effective, I love to give examples. And I always don't like to tell them examples, I like to ask them for permissions for me to tell them about an example.
Big difference, by the way. Uh, if I just start off a conversation, Roger, and you're like, You want to talk about storytelling? Well, let me tell you right now about this particular instance when I had this moment where I couldn't make a connection with someone. Did they ask to hear it? No. Did they allow me to empathize and get in?
No. But a great tactic, whether for leading or for selling, is to make sure your audience is ready to hear a story. Let's just call it what it is. If you know that there's a great example, and I'm with you Roger, when you connect a certain instance that you're in to another example, another case, another story, another testimonial, another instance in your life that can relate to this.
Where you want to show maybe success or how a problem was handled or a challenge and how it was dealt with those. We love connecting with those stories because it does two things. One, it exaggerates an example. Maybe that you were specifically talking about our highlights that, but the other part is it adds a little bit of creativity.
It enables you to see and connect with something outside of your own world and connect with the story itself and see, is that the story that I want to be telling people? So when I'm, Recommending this. The way I kick off this thing is would it be okay if I shared with you something we're doing with another client that might be relevant to you?
Notice how powerful that is, by the way, by asking a question and coming from that place versus let me tell you about this instance we're doing for client XYZ. By giving them a chance to answer and say, you know what? I do want to hear that. And I am very curious, and most, nine times out of ten, they probably say yes.
However, I'm giving them the option to opt out. They say, before you go into it, I'll, wait, wait, you started talking about this. Can, can you go down that rabbit hole with me for a second? Let them drive the conversation too, but you drive it by asking the questions, but let them be involved in the decision making.
And making that a connected experience. Because that conversation, in and of itself, is a valuable asset. on how your connected relationship begins, right? So, uh, if stories are required to amplify the story and bring it to life, spectacular. If they want to talk about a real, another story or another instance that they're currently going with, and you might be able to then navigate how that story is relevant, great.
It's always very powerful, but let the, what was the old books? You know, like, uh, you got to choose your own adventure type of books. Let the person you're talking with choose the direction that they want it to go and let them dictate what story they want to hear.
[00:20:02] Roger Courville, CSP: That's a killer example. The choose your own adventure.
Let them choose their own adventure. I love that.
[00:20:09] Lou Diamond, CSP: And give them the permission to do so. Maybe even more importantly.
[00:20:12] Roger Courville, CSP: Yeah, that's, that's great. Just out of curiosity, kind of backing out to the macro level. Are there any current trends that you see, um, particularly affect the nature of how people connect. I mean, besides the obvious, like, well, you know, everybody's got a Facebook account or something like that.
What, what do you see going on in the world that, that affects people's interest, willingness, uh, whatever that might be? What, what's going on in, in human connection at a broad level?
[00:20:46] Lou Diamond, CSP: I'm going to use one word, uh, brevity, the importance of being brief and respecting the time when you're having the conversation.
We know that we can go on. If we want to go on to that example. Uh, sometimes, you know, getting too long to the, the meat of the story might not be the best way to story. You might end up losing people. Our attention spans. Today continue to get shorter and it's not just because of the tick tock generation or that things have to be a certain bit or we, things are moving faster.
Everything's moving faster. The technology we deal with, doesn't it feel, I used to do this thing and I still do it Friday is the day that I have to take out garbage for the record. It has been the day wherever I've lived somehow. Coincidentally, the sanitation department has taken the garbage away before every weekend, wherever I've lived.
It's kind of funny, like for my entire life, by the way. So Friday happens to be the day that the garbage goes out where I live. And I remember rolling the garbage out to the street and I just keep thinking, my God, didn't I just do this a minute ago? Is time getting faster? To be clear, if you get older, which hopefully you do, every single year of your life is a smaller percentage of the overall, if you have a perfect memory, right?
Now we don't always remember everything, even though it's still a 24 hour day and it's still the same number of days in the week, but to ourselves, the perception of it is Seems to get shorter and shorter. And that goes true to every month, every day, every holiday. And needless to say, every Friday when I take the garbage out, it feels like I'm just taking it out.
So time is getting, as we get older, technically has a shorter shelf life in, in our, in our spirit. So there is that perception, but there is also this perception that technology is making everything get done so much faster that we could do so much more that we want to do more and use our time really efficiently.
When you're connecting in a conversation, listeners, Roger, we have to be so respectful to those that we're having the conversation with of their time. Going back to the analogy that, or the statement I made, that every conversation is a gift. We have to treat it as such and respect it as such that even the window of time that they have with you needs to be used very quickly.
So you want to be brief, be bright, and gone when you're having that conversation. Respect the time that you have, and try to be really concise. You know what a gift it is to give back time in a meeting? And I'll use this in the professional, uh, line. Most people, because these calendar 15, 30, or one hour window slots.
You know, of scheduling slots in your calendar. Be great! If you can give that time back. I try to aim every 30 minutes and get it done in 20. Every 15 and try and get it done even faster. Giving someone back a half an hour is like the greatest gift ever. And in fact, it's okay to do so. If you are efficient and focused in your conversations, and you accomplish the things you need to, yes, you can make it fun, you can go off, you can go on tangents, or you can spend more time on the things that require more time.
Whether you're running a meeting, whether you're having a conversation socially, you have to be respectful of that person's time. One great tip that I use, Roger, is Is it? How much time do you have? Are we good for these next 15 I got a little bit to know. Like, if you're going to go into a story, understand really what the time pressing is.
Can you go over, right before we met, Roger, I had somebody that, uh, we went from 10 to 11, and I knew that we were going to go over. We've got a lot of stuff to do. And right around the 10 45 mark, I said to them, Can we go to, is 11 15 going to work for you? And they're like, yes. And getting that respect and asking for permission to do so, It, it is setting up, what is really important is you're building a relationship every time you converse with someone.
You're also giving them the respect they deserve in a short, brief amount of time. You have a long winded conversation, people might drone and go on. And it might be meaningful, yes, and there will be parts that will be. You give somebody, and get something really efficiently done in a short amount of time, you're gonna really appreciate them by giving them the gift of having the ability to have another conversation with somebody else.
[00:24:48] Roger Courville, CSP: Killer point. I, uh, see next month will be 25 years in the virtual events industry. You know, I've been teaching, you know, wrote multiple books on virtual presentations and blah, blah, blah, four bucks to get you a latte. One of the things that I've been preaching for a long time is exactly that. I said, the greatest sin is going one minute long and nobody's ever going to complain.
If you, if you wrap it up a little early and, uh, you know, we, in our own info barfing of wanting to try to deliver value, we try to squeeze 50 pounds of spuds into a five pound sack. And, uh, in a way we go. Just out of curiosity, though, let's talk about long form content. And to be fair, you can push back and we could even edit this out if you want.
The most popular, some of the most popular podcasts in the world are long form, like you know, Joe Rogan, et cetera, right? I mean, they're sometimes going on two or three hours. Uh, just out of curiosity, and this is me kind of half thinking out loud and going off script here, but do people just put that on in the background and listen like radio?
Is that, is that how you think of the psychosocial part? I know you've got a background in podcasting. I'm curious how you, how you see that.
[00:26:00] Lou Diamond, CSP: It's really interesting and a great, and a great point. You bring this about certain programs. Uh, and, and Tim Ferriss show, my goodness, I, I, I've listened to a couple of his that I thought might have hit the three to four hour mark, uh, and, and he, and he has a four hour workday, so I, I want to know how that turned into that, that level of length.
So, yes, people listen to podcasts, uh, when they drive, when they're, you know, I'm doing something else. I actually have like a guilty pleasure. I listened to Bill Simmons, uh, the rewatchables podcast. I'm a big movie fan and they go through the, all these movies. And they, in fact, they just had a two part one, which was if four plus hours, four and a half hours of Pulp Fiction, where they broke down that movie, which was just such a great one from top to bottom and people I listened to in the car and for the record, I don't necessarily listen to it, obviously, when I'm busy or doing other stuff, but I would put it on, like, on a two minute car ride, just to have it on in the background as noise.
So, yes, there are people that do it that way. Um, I think the benefit of audio podcasts, specifically, is that we can listen longer. And do other things while we're doing it. Uh, Spotify has made that much easier. You can, and Sonos as well. I have a Sonos sound system. It goes through Spotify. You can listen to a podcast around my house, so it'll be playing in the background if that's something that's there and our mobile phone devices can play it while we're, we're doing something else, so we have access to this content that enables us to do it that way.
The longer form also might have to do with, these are famous people. And a lot of these guests are famous guests and the podcast forum enables you to do a lot more than what they would on a late night show where they really are only on for about four to five minutes, you know, even though you feel like it's longer, it's a chance to get to know them better.
And a lot of us love those deep dives into those, those folks. Uh, when we connect with famous people where we're fascinated by their stories, by what they're doing next, it's, it's a little pop culture y, uh, specifically the platforms we're talking about. Interestingly, regular business podcasts that people are putting that the little short dose of content, those are running like 20 30 minutes and that's okay because it's like, all right, I've heard enough of this guy.
It's really cool. I want to check it out. Uh, if there's something really passionate, I've had guests on my show who have overcome incredible, um, life situations, health issues, uh, rebound and resilience stories that will bring tears to your eyes when you hear how incredible these humans are. And those tend to be longer listens because the details of those conversations Um, are great versus maybe what somebody is really doing in their job.
I think podcasts are matching up to our guilty pleasures. In the length that they go and to a very short dose of function of what we need to do in the workplace. And if there's certain tips and tricks and nuggets that we can take, so getting to those nuggets quickly is great. And that's like, I just listened to this and it was short, but I got totally everything out of that.
That's another effective way of utilizing the platform. Again, the fame factor, the be able to do other things, enables you to use more. By the way, they're also using it because they have a lot of sponsors that they have to promote on, on shows that get millions of listeners every time. So that, that's, that's the general piece.
It's, it's the only forum in the world where the length is not fixed. You can determine how it is based on how great that conversation goes.
[00:29:21] Roger Courville, CSP: Let's not leave the theme of podcasting just yet. Imagine you're talking to corporate marketers, mid and large size companies. That's our audience. You know, that's, and typically, of course, we're producing virtual events that are typically interactive with live audience, which is a little different than what you and I are doing today.
But when you approach a potential client like that. How are you, um, generally positioning your own production services with regard to how you serve them? What are you drawing out of them in terms of going, Hey, this is, this is how this can really touch down for you.
[00:29:59] Lou Diamond, CSP: So there's two lanes that I'll And they both have to do with who you're connecting with and the audience has changed.
I, um, I service very large organizations that are trying to improve the way that they connect within their organizations. And those are internal podcasts for big companies. Uh, and that's, and that's a lot of the work that we do here at Five Loud Productions, which is ironic because that's actually how it had started, um, before I had opened it up.
to other thought leaders, other speakers, professionals, uh, creative types who wanted to create content that they wanted the masses to hear. The biggest difference was that I figured out how to make money in podcasting, Roger. I figured out about, after like, it took me a long time ago, I've been in the game about, uh, 7 plus years, almost 8 years, podcasting.
So it was early on, relatively, in the process. And. The main show of my program, and I've had numerous plot, uh, podcasts and platforms underneath it, but Thrive Loud with Lou Diamond features those that are thriving in their lives, their businesses, and their passions. In the beginning, I was learning all the mistakes, all the technical issues that we can take for granted.
We couldn't do what we're doing right now on this cool video platform of Ecamm. It didn't exist at the point. Uh, I remembered having recording issues where recordings got lost and we went crazy trying to find the content and it was audio only. What I did end up realizing was that it wasn't listeners necessarily that were potentially clients of mine.
It wasn't necessarily, Um, a social media audience that would, would come in and just say, Oh, I got to hire Lou to speak. Often it was the person who I was interviewing, who ended up becoming a relationship and a connection that either hired me or referred me to hire stuff. And I realized there was an avenue here that was untapped because the podcast itself.
The conversation itself was the impetus of Speak Easy. When I work with people, what we do is I find people that I know I can amplify their business, their brand, if it's individuals. And for the corporations, it's very simple. It's really understanding where they are lacking in connecting and getting the engagement they need inside the audience.
And I'm very good at enhancing the engagement of the content, the material, the topics, the means that that communication gets distributed. Speak Easy. All of that led to us opening the doors for Thrive Library. I was doing it a lot a la carte, because I was very focused on my brand and all that stuff, and recognized that people really needed help.
And they didn't know that there was a way to monetize the system. So I said, let me help you do it. And that's been, it started off with a course, by the way, Roger. I did a virtual course, which we called, uh, Speak Easy Podcash. Turn your podcast into podcash. Still catchy. And that course became the strategic module.
Of the kickoff that we do when we start to produce shows for new producers, or a lot of people have been doing podcasts for a while and we relaunched them in a way that's going to get them. More money in their pockets, servicing the stuff that they do. And by the way, in some instances, my favorite story is that I helped a podcast host sell their podcast to another host in their content, which was just unthinkable at a time.
But the creative pieces in working and using that, understanding the connected needs of what they need and all my professional services and consulting skills of who I am is what enables me to see where that conversation can go and how you can take that podcast.
Roger's thinking, how can I sign up right now with Drive Loud Productions so that I can take advantage of this? That's what I love about you, Roger. I know you're already thinking that right now. That's what's going through your head.
[00:33:33] Roger Courville, CSP: And if you order before midnight, you'll get the Ginsu knives.
Absolutely.
[00:33:37] Lou Diamond, CSP: Always loved the Guinsoo knife. I think I saw that ad like 600 times when I was a kid. I'm like, whatever. Yeah. Right.
[00:33:42] Roger Courville, CSP: I'm going to, I'm going to betray my little gray hair here.
[00:33:46] Lou Diamond, CSP: You at least have some, my friend, look, look what's going on up here.
[00:33:49] Roger Courville, CSP: Yeah. The trend is not my friend either. So, uh, talk to me about your books, the art of connecting speakeasy, uh, do they overlap?
What does one come before the other talk to me about, uh, kind of the core of how that serves kind of the nature of what you do in your speaking consulting. Watch
[00:34:07] Lou Diamond, CSP: me. I shared before. Roger, is it okay if I share your story of how Master of the Art of Connecting came to be? Ha ha ha ha. Hallelujah. There we go, a little hallelujah music.
Love it. So, uh, uh, when I was, I worked at Wall Street, as I mentioned, I was working, um, In an institutional sales role, I did very well, um, but I was not happy. I didn't know why I wasn't happy, which was even more puzzling to me. And a lot of it wasn't, I really wasn't doing the stuff I love to do. And specifically around this, helping people to better connect.
Uh, a very good friend and colleague of mine, I basically was moonlighting. I went on a, to, to a trade show that he had been going to for the last six years and had never found to be a fruitful experience. Every time he went, it did not enable him to grow the business in the way you want it to. And these, as you know, these trade shows can be very expensive, but he invites me to go out for this two and a half days and me to basically just act on his behalf and help him to bring a new opportunities within the two and a half days, we inked two deals while we were there and five more closed.
Within 30 days of the time that the conference had ended. On the flight back, my friend who, who took me out to this on our trip back from Vegas, by the way, he upgraded our seats to a extra leg room. He never got me to first class. People say you got upgraded to first class. I did not. He buys me a drink, hands me a piece of paper and says, you need to write down what it is that you do.
Because I think what you do, you think everybody knows how to do, but they don't. And there's a way that you are connecting with people that seems to be different. That led to my first book, master of the art of connecting, which by the way, led me to opening the doors to my company thrive, which eventually led to creating the podcast thrive loud and what the master of the art of connecting focused on was something that we all have inside of us, which is our connecting core.
We have these elements of how we need to be, or what's inside of us that we need to unleash. To be able to connect with other people where I expanded upon that was in speakeasy and it was specifically the way you needed to be in every conversation, to connect in every conversation, because without that, you are not making the connection.
And since I was podcasting and speaking and working with large organizations, the podcasting was the perfect platform for me to do. All of the things that I exemplify, which I was trying to even display here on your show, in Speakeasy. And Speakeasy became the methodology that was really needed the time to brew.
But Master the Art of Connecting highlights the concepts and Speakeasy gives you the tasks and tips so that you can connect, engage, and win in every conversation. And I say win, it's a win is a two way street, or three way street in some cases, where you, you win, the person you're connecting with wins, and the combined entity of you two together from that conversation is where connections are so valuable.
And if I were to take this one domino falling over to the next, It is how the Connected Leader Club came to be. Uh, we are both professional speakers and, uh, exactly a year ago, Michelle Tillis Letterman and I, also a CSP from, from NSA. Uh, we were walking around and both of us were dancing around something.
She was looking that she had a problem and a client that she couldn't service. And the two of us are, both speak about connecting. She's the connecting sister from another Mr. I'm her connecting brother from another mother. And we recognize that if we brought our content together, we can actually offer in a way.
that many other people who would not have access to what we normally do can benefit from. And that's how the Connected Leader Club came to be and the course and now this community that we've developed. So all of it really started from one little plane flight and we go into a trade show and understanding that I finally figured out at the core of what I'm about and how I could help people better connect.
[00:37:58] Roger Courville, CSP: What question should I have asked you that I haven't?
[00:38:02] Lou Diamond, CSP: You see, I always make fun of that question. This is your show, Roger. I'm going to steal this from Phil M. Jones. What would
[00:38:09] Roger Courville, CSP: you love to be asked?
[00:38:10] Lou Diamond, CSP: What would I love to be asked? Yeah, no, this, look, I think what There's no question that you haven't asked me.
This is your audience and your listeners. And I joke about that. The, the, I think the, the question that I always love to ask people is, have you thought about the last conversation you had and did you connect with the person you were speaking with? And if that is. Connecting with the guest. If you're a podcast host, did I really establish a connection with the person I'm talking to?
If, is that the conversation I had with just someone I met at a business meeting or a networking conference? Is that conversation with my client in the, in our last meeting that we have? Is that conversation in a sales meeting? Did I connect in the way that I know that a next conversation would happen?
Which is great. Kind of the goal of every conversation is to have more of them. So I wouldn't ask you to ask me this question, but I would ask the listeners to ask themselves the question, was that last conversation that I had a connecting one and what do I need to do? Or more importantly, as we just stated, how do I need to be so that I can connect with you?
In everyone that I have the next time.
[00:39:16] Roger Courville, CSP: Lou, what's the best way for folks to get in touch with you?
[00:39:19] Lou Diamond, CSP: Absolutely. If you're interested in connecting with me or anything that we do at thrive loud or thrive loud productions, where we produce podcasts, head on over to thrive loud. com T H R I V E L O U D. com where you can find me everywhere on social media.
And most importantly, as we're airing this right now in early August, if you want to improve the way you lead. And learn how to become a connected leader. Join me and Michelle Tillis Letterman at the connectedleaderclub. com. If you head on over to the dash course, connected leader, com connected leader, club.
com slash the dash course, you can sign up for our fall cohort, um, and join. unbelievable leaders and other thought leaders on how you can up your game and get it, take advantage of this great content that not only I provide, but also Michelle Tillis Letterman does as well, has written four books on connecting and would love you to be there.
That's the CLC, our affectionate name, but the Connected Leader Club. Check it out.
[00:40:14] Roger Courville, CSP: Lou, thanks so much for spending a little time with us today. And I realized that, um, that you've got this wealth of stuff going on between your two ears and we could have gone on for about four hours ourselves. But, uh, I really appreciate you spending a little time and, and thank you to each and every one of you.
If you're still listening here, uh, thanks again to our sponsor, virtual venues, where you can instantly scale your crew with regard to virtual and hybrid event production. And, uh, we will catch you on the next episode of thought leader conversations.
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