Dr. CK Lin | Productivity. Innovation. Entrepreneur Profiles

Movie Producer Reveal Hollywood Movie Alchemy

Read this if you are interested in how to have people pay attention to your story.

One afternoon amongst 500 other people, I spotted an older more distinguished gentleman.  You know the kind of person who you can spot amongst 1000 people.  I introduced myself and turned out he is the executive producer of Pretty Woman, one of the most memorable film in my youth.

What do you think I did?  Given that I am a student of successful people, I seized the opportunity and had a brief interview with Gary.

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Here is the synopsis of the interview:

How many times have you been asked “What do you do?” at any kind of social gathering.

How many times have you answered the question and the other person then moved on to the next person?  Leaving you feeling unimportant. Snubbed.  Even a little hurt.

By answering the question directly, we put a ‘label’ on ourselves.  And based on the the listener’s perception you are either boring or interesting.

Sure you can say: how rude!  But the fact is that we have so many people to meet and so much information coming our way.  There is no way for us to care about everything and everyone at everywhere.  We have evolved to have phenomenal multitasking ability as well as filtering ability.

You are either boring or interesting.  Bang.  Done.

When Gary Goldstein asked me what is it that I do, my answer was ‘blogger’ and I am interested in interviewing him.

If he wasn’t curious and had a blogger interviewed him already.  That would have leave no room for more development.  That would have been the end of conversation.

Gary asks me to consider answering the question with a question.  “What if thousands of people get to listen in on this conversation?”

By demonstrating value in the form of a question, that would have been intriguing to you, wouldn’t it?  From that intrigue, we can then develop a relationship.

If you think this only applies to conference networking events, think again.

Recall how you or someone you know intimately, how do you initiate conversations in the dating scene?

Inevitably they start out with the question “what do you do?” and launch into a monologue of how great their latest project may be.

All features and no benefit.

Yawn. Boring.

You start to look around for more interesting targets.

As the talker, you want to have something that demands an unusual response.  But I digress.

Here are some of the other points he touches on:

• He shares how he is changing the business model of Hollywood by inverting the model of production and distribution.
• He shares what’s possible beyond the realm of Hollywood
• He shares how you can develop the ability to overcome hardtimes in Hollywood
• How to get the inroad of Hollywood
  • Inner game: persistence, commitment
  • Outer game: dream100 and the strategy to reach anyone you want

If you ever get an opportunity to see him speak, see him.  His insight and analogy will change how you operate in business relationships.

Even if you don’t listen to the entire interview, here is one thing you can do right now to get results:

Write down your list of dream contacts that will take you to the top.  All 100 of them.  Reach out to their gatekeepers for advice.  Be persistent.  Result will come.

“Opportunity never knocks, it sits quietly on the roadside and waits to be found.”

Are you waiting for opportunity to knock?  Or are you going to find it?

Read this if you are interested in hearing what type of people I’d like to meet.

I have been privileged.  Because of my previous liaison work and passion to learning, I have had the chance to meet some of the most influential people in the world.

Eric Schmidt of Google

Dr. Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank

Michael Milken of the Milken Institute

Al Gore

TEDsters

Award winning actors.

Technology Tycoons

Legendary VCs

Diplomats

Nobel Laureates

All that good stuff.  Yes they are very interesting people.  Yes they have accomplished a lot in their life time.  Yes I get caught up in my exhilaration every time I meet these celebrities.

Don’t mistake my exhilaration to obsession.  I don’t really care about the gossips about their every move.  But I am appreciative of what value they stand for and the discipline they have to accomplish what they have.

And do I hope their accomplishments rub off on me?  Ahh yes!

But, don’t mistake my appreciation to these accomplished people to snobbery.

I believe that it is within the ability of all of us to accomplish similar feats.  All talent and IQ aside.  It is through shear will and determination to gauge one’s success in life.

If you want something, go for it.  How many rags to riches story have you heard?  The only person who can stop you is you.

Therefore, I believe that I can learn something from everyone and everything.  As a matter of fact a few of my biggest lessons were taught to me during my volunteering days in NYC homeless shelter.

But I digress.

Here is a quote I came across that best describe how I feel about this.

The Invitation
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for,
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

If we are truly defined by the company we keep, what kind of company are you keeping in your life?   Do an inventory check on the 5 closest friends you have.  The average of their characters, drama, conversations, networth, and family is you.

What will you change about the company you keep now?

Courtesy of J.T.D(http://www.flickr.com/photos/14850096@N03/)

Read this if you find people fascinating and you want to understand your partners better.

I am student of human behaviors.  I find people fascinating.  Fascinating but equally perplexed.

For example, men’s obsession with cars and women’s obsession with shoes.

I’d like to be able to predict the general behavior of someone.

So over the years I have studied Myers Brigg and other personality typing methodology and body language analysis.  And more recently dabbled in the art of handwriting analysis.   I learned that there aren’t any silver bullets that can determine someone’s behavior with absolute certainty.  Human beings are complex human beings after all.   Like Sigmund Freud said: “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

This morning I came across a Chinese passage that condenses what I have learned from all the years of watching people in a just few sentences.

to evaluate a man’s character, watch his eyes
to evaluate the worth of a man, watch who he picks as his opponent
to evaluate someone’s potential, watch how he spends time alone
to evaluate someone’s true self, watch people surrounding him
to evaluate someone’s personality, watch how he writes
to evaluate if someone is happy, don’t watch how he smiles, watch the first facial expression when he wakes up in the morning
to evaluate the size of someone’s tolerance, evaluate his reaction during failure and betrayal
to evaluate someone’s courage, watch how he faces death
to evaluate the true relationship between two people, watch how anxious one gets when the other is in danger

As well as I know myself, I tested these statements against myself.  Thinking back the moments when I had faced death a few times, the test is accurate. It also gave me an opportunity to evaluate how I have grown over the years.  How I acted when I was 5 versus 15 versus 20 and so on.

Take a moment to reflect back how you acted and reacted when you faced the circumstances stated in the quote.  Are they accurate?

Hope this helps you gain more clarity in who you are and what you stand for.

Ready this if you are interested in free wi-fi spaces in the Orange County area

With my new focus on internet marketing and publishing, I found myself in a lot of meetings that require everyone to have wi-fi.

Unfortunately, not all wi-fi is free and not all wi-fi locations are created equal.  It’s quite frustrating at times to find the perfect  meeting spot that works for not only me but everyone I work with.  Would you agree with me?

Since I live in the Orange County area, I decided to compile a list of locations suitable for business settings.

Here is my criteria:

1.  Free wi-fi.  You may be surprised by the lack of access in cities as a whole.  Restaurant and coffee shop owners, why wouldn’t you install them at your business place?  Free wifi=free traffic and more goods and services.

2.  Quietude.  Ahh..yes.  But not too quiet where business discussions can’t happen without other patrons give you the look.

3.  Comfortable seating/standing options.  If you haven’t tried working standing up, try it.  You’ll be amazed by the amount of focus and energy you will have.

4.  Whiteboard.  Visual learners and list builders, this is for you.  Like my living space, I need space for brainstorming and action items.

After scouring the internet, here is the compilation other people recommend:

• Boudin Sourdough Bakery 2803 Main St, Irvine
• UCI University Library 4512 Sandburg Way, Irvine, CA 92612, USA
• Champps Americana 51 Fortune Drive Suite 500 Irvine, CA 92618
• Corner Bakery Cafe 91 Fortune Dr, Irvine, CA 92618, USA
• Earth Cafe 5409 University Dr Irvine, CA 92612
• Java City 18100 Culver Blvd. Irvine, California 92603
• Cha for Tea Cafe 4187 Campus Drive Irvine, CA 92612
• Tully’s Coffee 4610 Barranca Pkwy Irvine, CA 92604-4735
• Diedrich Coffee
• Peet’s Coffee & Tea
• Panera Bread

I am going to evaluate these entries based on my criteria and let you know.

Where do you work?  Do you settle for uncomfortable, noisy places for your business meetings?

Go write down your criteria.

I’d like to know what criteria you use to find the perfect spot for your productivity.

Social Media’s Importance In Foreign Affairs

It’s no shocker that Iran’s recent elections have made the headlines of every major news network.

However what IS noteworthy is the role social media is playing in the recent turmoil.

Keeping information and content within your region or country has become literally impossible thanks to the world wide web.

The same holds true for social networking via Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Iranian citizens are able to keep the rest of the world updated in a 140 word blurb on their Twitter, a valuable resource that didn’t use to exist.

This new social media turn is refreshing and innovative, no longer will we question what really IS going on in a protesting country or nation.

This is an unforeseen route that social media has taken, we have always looked at Twitter or other social media sites as vehicles for personal or company gain…now we have opened up a completely different door.

Personally, this is a thrilling turn for us aspiring innovators, because this shows that we have more resources to cause change and connect people than previously considered.

I only hope that this sort of connection does not get abused or misused, it would be naive to rule out any sort of cyberwarfare or attacks against outside governments.

Thus, with admiration and caution, I end this blog entry, and log onto my Twitter to view the latest updates.