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DEMO: Creating a SWOT

Now I'm going to be inviting Jeff up here, if you please would join us. And now we are going into doing a SWOT analysis together. So thank you for... agreeing to come up and share this with the audience. And I want you to be really honest with everybody, because what you're experiencing, everybody else is experiencing as well, so if something is unclear or if you're hesitant about something, just say it, there's no right or wrong, I'm here to assist you and support you in figuring out what your super skill is, that's the only reason I'm here today. Awesome. Okay. So now what we're gonna be doing is, we are goin on page number 14, and here is the page, and this is where we get started with the SWOT analysis. And, in the first one it says strength, so tell me, like, three of your strength, and you may just want to actually go to that page and fill this out, because we may as well make it really super beneficial for you, it's on page number 14. So I think, probably, in terms of st...

rength, I am a thinker-- Okay. But I'm also really good at working with people. Okay, so you may want to write both of those down, then. So you would say something like: thinks things through. And when you say thinking it through, what does that mean? Now, give me like an example, is it that you go to the bottom of it, is it that when you think about it it suddenly becomes, like, super clear what the problem is, a problem analysis, like, what is the thinking portion of it? I like to put a plan together, step by step, it's just the easiest way to get a desired end result. Okay, so then the thinking is about finding a executable solution? Yes. Okay, so then that, so that's really how specific you want to be. So if you think, what does that mean? What's the thinking involved? So you say, you look at a problem or a task, and then you are able to very quickly come up with an executable plan to achieve a desired end result. Exactly. Okay, so you wanna write that down: executable plan to achieve desired result. And I'd encourage you to sort of go ahead and do that, you know, for yourself as we, you know, write down your three strength as well and then we'll, we'll go back and forth. And for our streaming audience, please, by all means, also fill this out, and time permitting we'll be checking with you and kinda, jump in. Okay. So, what's the next one? I'm intuitive. I like to, I'm pretty good at summarizing in my head different things pretty quickly to come to a decision. Okay, so give me like an example of something, is it like in a meeting? Is it a problem at work? Where would you apply that? Or where have you noticed it? I'm not afraid to try to learn anything new, but I think the first thing I do is I try it, and then I go back. I'm not the person that reads the manual front to back first, I'll try-- Who needs that, right? (laughs) I'll try it first, and then I'll go back to the manual to fill in the blanks. Okay, very good. So, would you then say that is an openness to explore? Mhmm. Okay, because I do believe that that is actually a really good skill for somebody to have, to say that you are not, you're not married or attached to a particular, to your own idea, that you have an openness to new ideas. Yes. Openness and exploring new ideas? Yeah. So I would probably write that down. And again, you know, the key here is to, to think about, think, yeah, here's the T, right? To go deep into this and say, well, what's it really mean? You know, like if I break this down, and then what language do I have to use to already put that in a format? Because, if you were to go to, you know, a team member or your boss and you'd say, well, "One of my specialties is to really "have an openness to explore all "and new ideas," do you think that's a benefit for the employer or for the boss, or the team member? Yeah, absolutely, I do. And for the reason that they go, well, here is somebody who doesn't come in with, you know, predetermined outcome that he must have, but here is somebody I can actually, you know, throw back and forth ideas. So, that's the idea is to come up with this conversation with the communication so that you're able to, to have that... Clearness when you come in and you say, hey everybody, let's, you know, do it my way, let's do it Jeff's way. Let's do, like, a brainstorm. Everybody contribute to the ideas and then we use my process, my thinking process that I've just outlined where I'm gonna assess which one is gonna get us to the fastest thing, and now you're in a very powerful language. What is a third strength of yours? Let me just go back to-- Please, go ahead. Go back to my-- I actually think that he's got some really good listening skills. (laughter) Well actually, I really do have good listening skills. Ah! Look at that! (laughter) Which I think works right in with being able to, the intuitive, being able to make a decision, because I can collect enough information to reach a decision quickly. Yes, so, I noticed that immediately because when... I'm responding, you know, when I'm listening to what you're saying and then I'm, you know, I'm in my head, the thinking kicks in, I can feel how intently you pay attention. And that's a combination of your intuition, because you're looking for that piece that you need to come to your conclusion-- Mhmm, mhmm. Yes? And you're really actually listening to it, so I think that's a very, very good, strong, a selling point to say, I listen intently and closely and precisely to all the information even though I have an intuitive process, but it'll help me arrive at the conclusion faster. I think that's a great combination, so let's maybe write your listening skills. And I would probably in sort of a setting, you know, that we're using the SWOT analysis is, I would say, listen to all ideas, or listen to every contribution that is being made to a particular subject just because we might as well find language that you can immediately implement. Good. Are we good with these three? I think so. Does this describe you? Yeah, I'm comfortable with that. Very good. So, on the weaknesses, so, what I, what we're gonna do now is, we're not going to say, does it hurt? And put the finger in it. I think that's not really very helpful, so, we're looking at weaknesses to say, where could you shine a little bit more? Where do you think you're not running at your full potential? Boy, that's a lot tougher to do on a self analysis, I think. You think? I do. Yes. Yeah. Well, of course. It's because sometimes it helps, sort of when we, when we sort of do the opposite. So what did you come up with your Myers Briggs? What did you estimate your letters to be? Um, all right, so, what I'm having trouble deciding is on the E or the I. Okay. But it's one or the other and then, obviously (chuckles), N-T-J. N-T-J. And the N-T-J there's just no question. All but one or two things were all on one side or the other. Okay, so traditionally a T has a tendency to not always think about the world being of all people or how it affects people, generally speaking. I would definitely say that I would be in that category. Well good. That'd be a weakness. (laughter) So let's explore that a little bit. And, again, this isn't about saying that you've done anything wrong, and that's really, really key to understand. This isn't about saying that you can't do this, but it says that you want to have somebody on your team, somebody you work with very closely who can fulfill that function. I'm going to give you an example, and it's actually kind of funny. So, when I ran my company I hired a controller, and that's when my company just kinda took off. And every time I had a meeting with my team she had what was called the after meeting, and that's when she told the people how what I just told them affected them. (laughter) Okay? All right. Fine. But that worked, because, you know, for me it was like, okay, so on the international distribution agreement, these are the numbers we need to have, this is how we're going to execute the plan, and then she went and she says, "And how this is affecting you "is in the following ways." So let's take a look into that a little bit and look at where you could shine more. When you're working with people, what, what have you noticed, or have you noticed that you could improve? Well, as much as I'd like to say that I'm a good listener, sometimes paying just a little bit more attention to the details on what they're telling me. When I say I'm working with people, as a photographer, I'd be working with somebody individually-- Right. And I have a process for the session, the client sometimes has things they want too, and of course I try to get as much of that information as possible, but sometimes I'll miss something. Okay, good. So, on the weaknesses then what I would recommend you to do is to add this one sentence verbatim into your process: how's that feel? How does that feel for you? So, and I can actually give you this from the example Herb Ritz. And Herb Ritz who is a, you know, was a world famous photographer, his thing was that anybody who walked into his studio the first thing he did, give me your hand, he says, "I just want you to feel comfortable, "whatever you need, you tell me, "I just want you to be comfortable, okay?" And just... That alone will make people feel (exhales breath), Jeff's got my back. And I actually, I do that. Like, almost too much, like, I do that four or five times in an hour, in a two-hour session, so, the one thing I'll stop and say, and I'll make eye contact, is: how're you doing? Doing all right? How are you feeling? So I am making that kinda contact, it's just sometimes getting them to open up and give me all the information that I need. Well, they don't know. Mhmm. You know, people don't know. If I were to say, well, what do you want right now? Would you be able to tell that? No, you don't, and they're subject matter specialists, so if you say, "What else can I do?" They don't know how to answer that, right? So it's our job really to-- Exactly. Really to kinda guide them through it. So let's talk about, so how can we, how can we improve that is to think about it from really their perspective, right? That's what I'm hearing you say, how can you crawl sort of better into the heads of the people that you're working with, what feedback are you getting? Generally positive. Yeah, I (clears throat), usually it's everything is great, feeling wonderful, no problems, so it's usually, it's the little things that I don't pick up on like a color they particularly liked, or a side of their face that maybe they prefer over the other one. Okay, so then, for you is because you, it's not innately natural for you to think about the way the feel, ha ha, in that very moment, you need to build a process around it. So you just make that part of an intake sheet, or a part of the form. So you take that perceived, you know, weakness, or the blind spot that you're having, and if you know that you're not paying attention to some of these things that will make them feel good, so you could literally make that a sheet that says, Here are the things that I want to ask you to make you feel really powerful and comfortable about the shoot. Is there a preferred side, left or right? I there a particular color? Is there something that will make you very uncomfortable if that'll ever come up? Some people don't like the super closeups. Some people like to stay in the half, or in the three-quarters of the body. So, you just build a process around it. So then with your weaknesses what I would write down is I would write down build a process around... how people feel, how people can feel better. Does this help you? Yeah. Does this make sense? Yeah that's great. Okay, and, you know, again, for the audience here and streaming, the entire idea here is always to think about how if I've uncovered that, or if, you know, sometimes people get judgemental. Like, I think thinkers can be a little judgemental sometimes because... People have feelings. You know, I experience this with my daughter all the time, because she has so many and such intense feelings that it can be overwhelming for my type, and I'm NTP, is that I have to time myself in how much I'll give that before I overload. So, that's also, you know, talking about feelings, but maybe putting a time limit to it. You know, and I literally tell her, I said, I've exhausted my F. (laughter) Because, you know, she's like, well this is how I'm feeling, this is how I'm feeling, and I'm like, well, what are you going to do about it? So, could, is another weakness of yours, perhaps wanting to fix things? If that's a weakness, yes. Sometimes people don't want things fixed, sometimes they just want to talk, so I also would put that down as a classic, classic NT-- I'm sure my wife is watching and laughing right now. (laughter) I told him, I told him this a hundred times, he just needs to listen to me. (laughs) Right now she's got her hand over face going like this. (laughter) I know that. Honey, this is for you, right? So a part of that is, you know, and that's a very classic oversight, is because you know you can fix just about anything, but there are feelings you can't fix, you know? You cannot fix feelings so you have to allow people ownership to their own feelings. Yes? Oh, definitely, yeah. Okay, good. So are we good with the weaknesses? Oh, yeah. (laughter) Please. No more of this-- (laughter) Next (chuckles). Ready for opportunities. Okay, great. All right, so let's go to the opportunities, so what'd you think your type, did anything come to mind immediately what an opportunity? No nothing really did automatically or right away. Okay, I already know one of your opportunities. All right. So, because you can build processes very quickly that you can think through from beginning to execution, I think you probably could build a lot more process about the kind of work that you do. From marketing to sales, to follow up, to consistent follow up, there probably is a lot more process that you haven't even thought about. From automation to intake forms, to having, you know, your clients sort of do a lot of the stuff that you're, you know, the touchy-feely stuff, maybe, that you're-- I, what you just said actually came into my head when I was sitting there and I had to force myself to stop thinking about those processes so I could pay attention and be ready when you ask me to come up. (laughter) So I already had, my brain had already gone to the opportunities, I just didn't know it. (laughter) Yeah? Yeah. Okay. I was already thinking, oh I have an Excel spreadsheet for this, I'm gonna do this next week, and then I'm like, okay, now pay attention. So, thank you. But that's not uncommon, you know, for a thinker to go, oh my God, she's talking about feelings now let's shut off on this one-- That's the intuitive jumping right to the next thing without getting all the information. Exactly, but, but then, you know, where's the opportunity in that? So the opportunity in that is to think about what additional processes could you implement to support your business and these, you know, these strengths and weaknesses that we've sort of identified. Okay? Good. All right. Go ahead. I'm just curious if you could... Specify a little bit more of the difference between the strength and the opportunities because I am having trouble seeing the difference between the two. Oh, good point. Okay, so a strength is, a strength is something that you just sort of know, right? So if you have, let's say, a great way to observe something and then you, then this strength would be observation and understanding of the subject matter, but that in itself is not an opportunity. So the opportunity is then where you take it sort of a step further and it says, well, if that is a... Skill, a super skill of yours, then how can you turn that into an opportunity? So, at work, if you have the ability to really sit back and observe everything and then come up with a phenomenal conclusion, then the opportunity would be to... offer... the conclusion or the synopsis of the conversation or the team meeting, or the opportunity would be to say, I'm really good at this, why don't we let me take notes on the next meeting, and then I'm gonna, you know, give everybody a summary and bring that in, there's the opportunity in that. So it's about identifying the strength, and then what is the opportunity. All right, what else? Or is that, is that sort of the main one we have? No, I think that's a great opportunity. That's like an opportunity with like 50-- Oh, definitely, yeah-- Bullet points on it. Okay, wonderful. And, now that we've talked about it, what do you think are some of real threats that you have to watch out for? Just a changing environment, and by environment I mean business environment and competition. Okay, be a little bit more specific about that. So, competition, as what? Is your competition doing stuff you're not doing? No, I really feel like we're kind of leading in a lot of those areas. Okay. It's just that-- Getting too comfortable? Definitely not, always trying to stay on that edge, it's just that, you know, I think in any, well, with a photographer specifically, and in any entrepreneurial business you're always worried about somebody coming in, undercutting your price point or trying to copy what you do and doing it for less money. Yes. Well, but that's the nature of things. But that's, once you know your super skill, and you put the value to it, that won't happen, because, you know, if you uniquely speak about what you uniquely bring to the table, then nobody else can copy that, you know? Mhmm. Then it's just a bad attempt at something. So, because we have to push on with time, I probably would think as far as threats, I think we have identified some of this is that... For you to really pay attention to people's feelings, keeping the fixer a little bit under control because people get really angry, actually, when you try to fix them and they do not want to be, they do not want to be fixed-- I've noticed that. Yes. (laughter) And for, you know, an NT, sometimes it's also to just allow others to bring their bit in, because they say a little bit and then in your head, you know, things already forming and you're already jumping ahead, to really, to really say, okay, I'm not gonna do that, I'm just be quiet, I'm gonna hear everybody out, because the intuition always wants to jump ahead, or many times wants to jump ahead, to give everybody-- All right. Equal opportunity to listen. Yeah. Good? Does that sound good? Well, can I have a hand of applause? (applause) Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you. That was great, I really appreciate it, thank you. All right, Kena, what do we have with our live audience out there? Well we have Jennifer, so shout out and thank you to Jennifer who said, "I think one of my strengths is being able to "break down complex procedures for my job, "and be able to teach them to others." So I thought that that was really great self-awareness in terms of what one of her strengths was. That is a phenomenal self awareness, yes. And you know, again, I think it's, you know, important to really look at everything, what's the benefit in here? Yes? So how can I communicate, how can I use language that's a little bit different that makes what I just said really powerful.